AT&T 1726 Digital Answering System with 3 Mailboxes by Advanced American Telephones
|
Our Price: $105.95 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of AT&T 1726 Digital Answering System with 3 Mailboxes
Digital camera Review: DRIVES ONE TO DRINK -- THROW IT AGAINST THE WALL
Summary: 1 Stars
First one total malfunction -- returned. Replacement -- can't get repeat of the messages -- instructions totally inadequate -- calling Customer Service a JOKE. If you have HOURS OF TIME to work at it -- you MIGHT get it figured out! It totally destroys "any" respect for the AT&T trademark. In My opinion -- TOTAL DISASTER. I would not even suggest looking at a picture of it! WORTHLESS -- "GREAT" WASTE OF TIME -- A DISGRACE TO AT&T.Digital camera Review: Decent features, crummy documentation, mediocre sound
Summary: 2 Stars
After having my faithful dual-cassette answering machine finally expire after more than a decade of use, I'm thrust into the painful position of being forced to choose one of these "digital" models. I can't seem to find any models that anyone really recommmends, it seems this new generation of answering machines tends towards mediocre sound quality *and* short lifespan. But I digress, so I'll comment on my limited experience with the AT&T 1726, which I've only set up tonight.First, the documentation is not even sufficient to explain fully how to record the greeting. As another reviewer mentioned, after selecting the greeting one wishes to record, you have to sit and wait about 15-20 seconds before the unit will go into a state that allows you to record. The manual does not mention this waiting period at all, it implies you can record immediately. This model has been out quite a while, plenty of time for AT&T to have updated/corrected the documentation. Thanks to reviewer T B Curtz, without the info provided in his review, I'd still be fumbling around trying to get this unit to record the greeting. I'm good at following instructions, and technically-minded (engineer), so I'm not accustomed to being baffled by a simple piece of consumer equipment.
The sound quality of the recorded outgoing message is poor. It sounds as if it was recorded underwater, with uneven volume, and cuts off with a burst of static. I've only listened to one incoming message, which sounded better than the outgoing recording, but still had a muffled, filtered quality.
When replaying a message, you can skip back to the beginning of the message, but there does not appear to be a "partial skip" in case you want to just listen to the previous 5-10 seconds of a message. With my old tape unit, the manual rewind control was handy for this, but with the AT&T if you miss some content, you have to listen through the whole message again. This lack of a partial rewind feature may be typical for digital units, but is especially missed if the sound quality is muffled.
I don't understand why the designers of this type of equipment (not just AT&T, all answering machines) don't focus more on sound quality. Why did my 10-year-old dual-tape unit sound better than a brand new digital unit? And shouldn't there be testers who approve the documentation, to ensure that a new user following the instructions can actually operate the unit? So, in summary, I can't recommend this unit, although honestly I don't know how it compares to other digital answering machines. I believe if someone produced a sturdy analog dual-microcassete unit, in the $30-50 range, there would be huge demand.
Digital camera Review: Did not pick up short messages at all
Summary: 1 Stars
I thought I'd be getting a funtional machine, but it literally doesn't record messages of 10 seconds or less. This is an impossible situation for those who sometimes get short messages as you will not even know you received them!I'm going to try to return it.
Digital camera Review: Does what I want, but sound quality is poor
Summary: 3 Stars
As other people have mentioned, sound quality is lacking on this device. I retired an older Lucent AS60 (also digital) in favor of the AT&T 1726's multiple mailboxes. However, I'm disappointed by the step backwards in terms of sound quality.The multiple mailboxes work well in terms of what I was looking for -- the ability to file messages for different people in my house. We use one mailbox as a common (default) inbox, and then save messages as needed in the remaining two mailboxes. Used this way, you really only have 2 personal mailboxes. However, you avoid an annoyingly long outgoing message "Press 1 for so-and-so, press 2 for who-and-who, press 3 for what-and-what..."
A count of messages in each individual mailbox is not shown (which would be nice), but an individual light for each mailbox shows solid for any messages, and flashing for any new message. Messages transfered to a new mailbox come up as "new" regardless if they have been previously heard in the old mailbox -- a nice feature in my opinion.
You can record multiple outgoing messages, but this is really only for quickly switching between outgoing messages, not for personalizing individual mailboxes. The device only ever presents one outgoing message per incoming call.
Another feature I would have liked to see -- a battery to avoid having to reset the clock after a power failure.
Digital camera Review: Don't buy this machine
Summary: 1 Stars
I had a terrible time with this machine, it was too complicated and it was too confusing to set up. Plus, I called customer service three seperate times and they were less than helpful, they didn't know what the problem was and they couldn't troubleshoot it. I eventually got so frustrated that I returned it. I haven't been impressed lately with what AT&T has been producing, because our phone isn't that great either and it's from them as well. This machine, with all of its features, seems like it would work well, but I found it to be daunting and a waste of my precious work time figuring it out, only for it to not work in the end. Don't buy this unless you have an excess amount of money and a surplus of time on your hands to waste!