I'd prefer an open source software solution but, either way, they'd start leaving voicemails, which is still annoying to manage. However, a lot of them already leave a 3 second blank voicemail, so that would at least eliminate the ignore/reject call step and the rude interruption.
I stopped using voicemail due to the shitty UI back when I had a dumb phone- I didn't want to spend 5-10 minutes waiting to listen to all my voicemails and sit through a robotic dialog.
Today, I use an iPhone and now use voicemail as a basic call filter. If I get a call from a number I don't recognize I immediately let it go to voicemail. At my leisure later in the day I can check the transcription service to see if it's spam.
I find it bizarre that the feature fell out of use for me, and came back into it because of this recent spate of spam phone calls.
That would be nice too. And locally run software should be able to handle it, so you don't have to hand all your voice mail over to a third party. Even 3 seconds of not silence is probably "It's me. Call me back when you get a sec." which the missed call notice already handles. I don't waste time listening to them any more, but clearing the notice and deleting the message is annoying.