The advent of widespread caller ID has resulted in a change in the way telemarketers place calls. Since it's more likely that a call will be screened than just picked up, many telemarketers use dialing programs that dial several numbers at once. When someone answers one of the calls, it's picked up and the others are disconnected. You can tell when a call is coming from such a system because it takes the operator about a second to connect to the live call. If I answer the phone and have not had a response within one second it's probably a telemarketer so I just hang up. If it turns out to have been a tongue-tied friend, he can call back.

Bruce