Do you folks across the pond have to go through this nonsense?

It is so bad that we bought a couple of 'caller display' 'phones - one upstairs one down so you don't break your neck trying to reach the 'phone - and the answer machine is permanently on. The cold calling nearly always comes from a call centre and shows up as 'number withheld' on the 'phone's screen, so we don't pick up the 'phone. They don't leave a message either; in fact they are cute enough so they can usually time it to cut the connection before the answer machine clicks in and costs them some money. There is the added advantage of being able to answer inconvenient callers at our leisure!