I got a phone call once from Southwestern Bell Telephone, our local phone company. They were trying to sell me caller id. I'm one of those people who kind of enjoy not knowing who is on the other end. I like the surprise. I'm also getting good at hanging up on soliciters. I explained all this to the salesman. He wouldn't take no for an answer. When I told him that had I had caller id I wouldn't have answered his call, he hung up.

The best scenario I've heard of to deal with telephone solicitors came from a Hermann cartoon. He's on the phone and saying to the salesman, "This is far too important to discuss on the phone. I'll be right down." Click. I've not had the guts to do this yet but maybe someday...

I think Call Blocking only blocks "anonymous" callers not some of the other unknown categories. It's hard to protect against large phone banks just dialing through all possible numbers.

Good luck.

Emily