Most home phones these days that you buy cordless/wireless have a great feature in them that allows you to silence the ringer.  On my Uniden phone, I have Caller ID button, Talk (obviously) and End call.  If you get a call you don't want to hear, hit the End call button, and you don't have to answer the call, and the ringer will instantly stop once you press end call.    I get these calls, hit the end call button and walk away.  I never answer calls from strange phone numbers or area codes.