If you have the resources, it's very satisfying to have call blocking equipment so that you can block calls (one ring, they're cut off) and take the calls you want. The calls you want will ring normally and you won't have to turn the ringer off. I did that and missed too many calls I'd been hoping to receive - many offices , others, friends, doctors etc, don't like voice mail and hang up on it, to my $100/month chagrin which is what I pay for DSL, Landline w/voice mail just for that purpose - so that people WILL leave a voice mail message . Sometimes I'm not here or I'm on the phone or indisposed. It's a drag when calls I want hang up w/no info, a drag and a waste of everyone's time. But call Blocking equipment - my favorite new gadget. Calls you've blocked, even entire area code ranges - are instantaneously cut off !!!
Called and hung up. No message. Called back and got a recording giving option to "press 5" to be removed from calling list. I pressed 5 and also blocked the number.