The most effective phone calls take less than a minute: say your name, your city or ZIP code, and what you support/oppose, maybe a sentence on why. You’ll be marked down on a spread sheet that is discussed at the daily office strategy meeting.
Other actions like brief emails, meeting in-person at the district office, meeting in-person at the DC office, can also be effective, but take more time and energy. Emails aren’t always read right away like a phone call must be answered for example. And you generally need to make an appointment for an in-person meeting.
Yeah higher wages would be great, but it doesn’t happen because the media loves to rake the government over the coals for such things. But, you know whose salaries don’t get scrutinized? Lobbyists.
You want to pay people enough to be able to resist these influences. Doing the actual work of governing should pay better than lobbying.
We should even pay congresspeople more. They make $174,000/year. But, when you adjust for inflation, that’s a lot less than they used to make.