If you're willing to use it and its available in your area I would recommend utilizing Google Voice. With GV you can port your existing number in and set it to only allow calls through that are in your contact list. Anyone else will get filtered to your voicemail or at least forced to identify themselves before speaking with you. Its a really nice product offering that could definitely give you value to be able to utilize your number again.
oh wow, i did not know this... im going to look into it, thanks.
I hope it helps you. If you need any help setting your filters feel free to reach out and I'm happy to help!