I remember, when I was younger, reading Restaurant at the End of the Universe and learning about the Golgafrinchans, who had eliminated all of the workers who didn't fit into the intellectual or laborer groups. Among the workers eliminated by sending them away on a spaceship were telephone sanitizers. (Which would turn out the be their downfall, as the remainder of their race would die from a telephone-based plague.) I found the idea of telephone sanitizers amusing.
Then I worked a job involving the telephone. Every night, when you left, you had to ensure that the phone you used was sanitized for your protection. Or rather, the protection of whomever used it next. We had some sort of aerosol can that sprayed some form of antibacterial agent. What I remember most is that it felt odd, even through the paper towels used to spread it and wipe it off.
Then, while doing a search to find out which book of the HHGTTG this event was in, I found the MSDS for a chemical agent intended solely to make a telephone sanitary at http://www.premiereproducts.com/pdfs/sds/Telephone%20Sanitizer.pdf
For the curious, it contains mostly butane and isopropanol with the bactericide at less than one percent of the composition. Further searching reveals that a member of Spinal Tap supposedly tried the business; see http://www.chiprowe.com/tap/atozed/TAP00544.HTM
Finally, if you're in the UK, try getting your telephone sanitizer at http://the-internet-pages.co.uk/england/oxfo/jani1/page3.htm