I have voice mails on my cell that are literally 10 years old, tying up my cyber space allowance. I do not want it and I do not use it.
I made my cell phone voice mail message as slow and long as possible, essentially stating that I might read your text if you want to reach me. It is a tortuously long message and I had a bit of fun making it, years ago.
Unwanted phone calls are a pet peeve of mine. I’ll share with you what we do about them .... you may know all this already - if so, sorry. If not, then I hope it helps.
I moved in with my elderly folks a couple of years ago. Their landline was ringing off the hook, sometimes as many as 10 calls a day! My dad grew up in the age when if the phone rang, it was an emergency (someone died) or very important so he thought he had to answer every time the phone rang (didn’t even look at Caller ID & still doesn’t). Then, he was too old-fashioned-polite to hang up on the scammers on the other end of the call.
The solution for us: a Digitone Call Blocker. They are about $100, but I can assure you, it is some of the best money I’ve ever spent. The factory setting is to allow all calls & you block the ones that come in that you do not want. Calls were coming in from all states in the country & the block list was exceeding the space on that first blocker (we have upgraded). There is an alternative - program the blocker to block ALL calls, then you allow (invite) the ones that can get through. We have allowed the local area code (church, friends, a lot of family, doctor’s offices, etc.) & invited family/good friends who live out of state. Now, the only spam calls we can get are in our local area code and I can block them by “exchange”. For instance, we have one exchange where a lot of “dealer warranty” calls originate so I can block it by 123-444-#### (# is ‘wild’ number ... anything in 444 exchange will not get through). Of course, you can also block individual numbers. How does it work? The caller hears one ring & then the call blocker hangs up on them - they do not have a chance to leave a message. :-)
We formerly had Verizon for our landline, but now have Comcast. You can also go online & block up to 25 numbers via Comcast. If you have just a couple numbers hassling you, this is a good solution without having to go the Digitone route.
Cellphone - I have an android smart phone. I use the (free version) Norton Security app to keep my phone cleaned up (delete junk files, etc.). It also has “call blocking”. I have it set to block any calls not on my contacts list. It does send them to voicemail instead of cutting off the call; however, most of those calls do not leave a message on voicemail.
I have to laugh when people get all frustrated because they are getting calls and are on the Do Not Call list. The DNC list is just like gun control - the legit, law abiding companies abide by the rules, the crooks/scammers, etc. do not.