When we had a home phone we were on the DNC list and it worked fine. The only calls we would get would be from groups/companies that we had a previous association with, and when they called we would tel them to remove us from their solicitation list.
Now we just use our cell phones so it is not much of an issue except for the once a month or so call from "card holder services". The last time they called I pushed "1" to talk to a person and when they answered I screamed as loud as could into the phone
They'll call back next month I'm sure