[kd5bjo]

re #2: They can leave a voicemail; I'll listen to it and call back if necessary.

[tones411]

Going back and listening to voicemails of spam is more time consuming than just answering it at the time it comes in.

[kd5bjo]

At the moment, the percentage of spam calls that bother to leave a message is low enough that it seems to work out. I also don't have to worry about the impoliteness of hanging up when it's a live human on the other end, and can time-shift the annoyance to when I'm not in the middle of something.

[paulie_a]

I wish I could ban the hundreds of 2-4 second voicemails I get a week. actually ban the number too.

[toss1]

Hmmm, as interrupting to answer at the time has the additional overhead of task/context switching, I'd say it's more.

If you just switch to/from the voicemail context once for 10 messages, the cost is only 10% of the cost for real-time answering.

[linsomniac]

Usually works well, but when you get caught in a cycle of always missing each other it sucks. Usually this is a business or similar where they call and are making a bunch of calls, so by the time I call back they are on the line with someone else.