h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just thought i'd try and be a bit helpful by saying that, from personal experience, Greeks also answer with "yes"

In addition, the conventions for answering a phone in the UK generally apply to any English-speaking country, like the US, Canada, or Australia.

That's good to know.

In the US, from my experience, I've never heard someone answer a phone starting with their phone number. And I've never done it, myself. "Hello?" seems predominant. That places the greater burden on the caller, I guess, to ask who he's speaking with and whether whoever he wants to speak with is there, etc.

Of course, I communicate almost exclusively through my portable phone. Since I can tell who's calling me before I pick up, the greetings are generally very familiar. If it's a strange number, it's back to "Hello"