Yeah you're all nodding agreement, I can tell. Generally we use the cellphone for speech calls (unless it's long distance or we know we're going to be talking for a while) and our home phone is used primarily for our internet connection (yes, still on dialup at the moment). On the odd occasion when we disconnect from the net, you can guarantee the phone will ring within 5 minutes with someone trying to sell us something, I kid you not. If we left it open all day, I hate to think how many hundred telemarketing calls we'd get. This is not an exaggeration.

If you're in the US, salvation is at hand! You can now log in to the 'National Do Not Call Registry' and register up to three phone numbers for free. What this means is that telemarketers cannot call your telephone number once it is registered there, and this covers your home and mobile phone numbers for five years. Sweet!

If you register your phone number(s) before August 31st and you receive a telemarketing call after October 1st (2003), you can then file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission via the same website and the company calling you will presumably get roasted for it. Nice. Go do it now before you forget.