Voicemail

As far as I can tell, this whole country operates its telecommunications systems without the use of voicemail or answering machines. It boggles my mind. People don't have answering machines at home, cell phones don't have voicemail, and businesses have to have people at the phone at all times, or no one gets the call. I don't understand how they get by these days without that convenience. So many times it's pissed me off that I've tried calling somewhere and the phone just rang and rang forever. Sometimes an automatic message will come on after 20 rings or whatever, telling you to give up (I assume). And you just have to try, try again.

The only advantage that I can see from this is that you don't have to scramble to get to the phone before the fourth ring.