my mum always cops these phone calls in the middle of dinner so one day she turned around and said hey im just in the middle of dinner, whats ur number so i can call u back in the middle of yours?

either that or if they continue to annoy her she gets a whistle (the higher pitched the better) and blows it as loud as she can down the phone. its worked every time. same goes for prank callers.

Yes it is most annoying and most of the time they are very hard to understand as there English is not very fluent.I really dont understand why they get not english people to do telemarketing as I find them hard enough to understand  in person let alone on a telephone.But my technique now is as soon as I hear mention of telephones I ask them if they are with Telstra and if they are not I somply say no I am not interested and hang up.

 i just hang up as soon i know its them   , after a few times they don't ring back

A good friend of mine does this sort of thing all the time, I only do it occassionally when I'm in a mischievious mood, and it works! There's a few different versions, and they are all hilarious.  The hard part is not cracking up laughing or stuttering and stammering your way through it - you gotta practise and get as genuine sounding as you can.

Pretend you're in the middle of having sex:  Mumble, murmer, moan, say "I'm sorry... but... ummm.... ohhhh.... umm... look, you've really caught mmmeeee! at a bad time. (lover voice and whisper, 'honey I'm on the phone!') ...can you try oh, ah, yes, um... (whisper again "honey, babe, stop it!") can you... oh call back another time....ah, please!"  When they call back, do it again.  If they call back a third time, pretend to get irritated and ask them - in a cool sarcastic voice - if instead of listening in on the phone, would they rather bring a video camera around!

The domestic violence interruption: pretend that you're having a really vicious fight with someone, by doing things like taking the phone away from your mouth part way through their speal and screaming, "Put the knife down! I'm not calling the cops!  It's a bloody canvass call! They phoned me - didn't you hear it ring?! What am I supposed to do! You abusive mongrel, get the hell out of my house!  No!  I will not listen to your bullshit anymore! Get out!" all the while banging cupboard doors, slamming doors shut, thumping things, etc; and just keep going like that until they hang up.

Sell something to them: Especially good if you sell tupperware or have baby clothes you want to sell - if you don't, pretending doesn't hurt.  Interrupt their speal and ask them if they are interested in buying your stuff, and don't let them get a word in.  Keep them on the phone, tell them every little detail about the item/s, including where you got them from, how much you paid, where you saw the advertisement, the funny thing that happened to you that day, what your mother-in-law had to say about it and how she changed her mind a few months later... etc.

The Australian Government is introducing a Do Not Call register which will only be available in May 2007.

Here is a link to the latest info and you can email an address to be informed of updates to the progress of the register:

http://internet.aca.gov.au/web/STANDARD//pc%3DPC_100642

thats a tough one i hate those phone calls grrhhhhh no the feeling. lol, have you tried ringing the phone company that you are with ie telstra or optus surely they could do something to help. or next time one of them calls ask to speak to there superior, then tell them if you ring this numbe again i will be taking legal action i have already told you 10 times before iam not interested and to stop calling so next time i will be seeking legal advice. ( not that you have to) but it should be enough to scare them off, lol, good luck and i hope i have helped you out a bit Brittxx