I’ve stopped answering my phone

I would second using the Telephone Preference Service, I've been using this for years. it doesn't stop them all but if I get any unsolicited calls I just block them.

You can also check who called you, where people put the details of callers and whether spam or scam. You don't have to register:
who-called.co.uk/

I don't understand why BT is considered expensive. I'm paying £22.05 for Broadband and £6.52 for the BT Vision Box making £28.57 a month in total. That includes a landline but I don't use it. Is that expensive?

What do you expect any government to do about it, OP? We block numbers from which we receive nuisance calls and receive very few now. You need to do something about it yourself - there must be blocking technology in Oz. And if you pick up the phone to a nuisance caller just put down again. How silly not to answer your phone.

I have an app on my mobile which filters out premium rate calls, spam and nuisance calls. it was free to download and has been a godsend. I think it's called should I answer. Google it.

We haven’t answered our landline for ages, unless we recognise the name/number. If it’s important they’ll leave a message. I have blocked nuisance calls we’ve received in the past.

I am registered with the TPS but I read that it does not cover calls from abroad. I received several nuisance calls every day.

Get your phone number (landline or mobile) onto the list at the Telephone Preference Service, which allows people and businesses to opt out of unsolicited live sales and marketing calls. Since I registered, no-one has tried to sell me anything over the phone.
www.tpsonline.org.uk/pages/what_is_tps

"If a number is registered with the TPS/CTPS, organisations are legally required – by the Privacy and Electronic (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 – to refrain from calling it. In the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office enforces the law and has power to fine firms that break it. Organisations are required to screen against TPS/CTPS at least once every 28 days,"

In the past I have ignored numbers I don't recognise, until I ignored persistant calls from the same number, while on holiday abroad.
It turned out to be an appointment for an angiogram at the National Heart Hospital, which did not use the generic NHS number, which I was familiar with.
Not always a good idea to ignore.

I use call protect which blocks spam calls. On my mobile I also block unwanted calls.

tanith

I now have no landline BT costs were just ridiculous considering I never made calls anymore via my landlin and it’s such a relief not to get all those scam phone calls. Everyone now has my mobile number or calls me on Watsapp. I know it’s not for everyone but it’s certainly working for me.

I too have cancelled my BT landline and gone broadband only. It will save me £31 a month and put an end to the nuisance calls. I only use my mobile anyway and few people called my home phone.

Mine is now on silent mostly, I check it and answer calls I choose to.

I don’t answer calls from locations I don’t recognise but do answer those that have no caller ID as they could be the doctor or hospital.

I now have no landline BT costs were just ridiculous considering I never made calls anymore via my landlin and it’s such a relief not to get all those scam phone calls. Everyone now has my mobile number or calls me on Watsapp. I know it’s not for everyone but it’s certainly working for me.

We have caller display, if we don’t know the caller we don’t answer it, once you answer a nuisance call they will keep calling you, often the same call centre but selling different products or scams.

In the U.K. you can get a phone that “stops” unrecognised calls - so we never, ever have a nuisance call - it is definitely worth seeing if you can get one - google it?