AT&T 1726 Digital Answering System with 3 Mailboxes

I've been using this answering machine for almost two years now. I was originally attracted to it's multiple mailboxes and spoken-aloud caller ID feature. It delivers quite well on those two features, but is otherwise frustrating to use.

All of the unit's features are configured by pressing a single 'setup' button, and all the options are voice menu driven. This seems very convenient, but in reality it takes a good couple of minutes to cycle through all the dozens of options available to find the one you want and then set it properly. The prompts are unclear and the settings cryptic.

The absence of a back-up battery means that I lose my outgoing greeting about once a month on average. I would not recommend this unit if you have regular power outages (even a brief power 'hiccup' will reset the unit).

Probably my biggest issue with this unit is that it doesn't always work well via remote operation (when I call home using a touch tone phone). Even when I'm calling the machine from a quiet room using a regular (not cell) phone, I often find I need to enter my passcode at LEAST twice before it is recognized (and sometimes as many as 3 or 4 times). Also, the other remote operation codes are very unfriendly to enter and remember.

I've had about half a dozen answering machines in my lifetime. Comparatively, I'd say that this unit offers slightly above-average quality, but is also by far the most complex to operate.

First, thank you to the reviewers who explained how to record

the outgoing message! :)

I bought this to replace a well-loved Phonemate 4200 that had

worked for almost 13 years before getting spotty. Let me

add that I agree with all who have said it: If only we could

still get dual-full-size-cassette analog machines, with

unlimited per-message length and long overall tape length!

I would have bought one if I could have found it, but the

reviews for this machine made it sound like it would do what

we needed.

So far, so good. The set-up was straighforward except for

recording the outgoing message (for which I used the amazon.com

page as a reference). I liked that you can choose a 3-digit

security code, as well as a 3-digit code for people to dial

in if they want to be announced as a "priority caller".

We don't have caller-ID, so I didn't bother turning those

features on.

I tested the machine, and it works as promised with regard to

being a "tollsaver" (fewer rings to answer if there are new

messages).

The sound quality is ok, but not great, but that's ok for

voice-message-recording purposes.

I liked that you can turn it so you either do or do not hear

the outgoing message as your caller hears.

Hangups are not recorded as messages, which is good--but

if your caller hangs up during the outgoing message, the outgoing

message does finish playing to completion.

The remote-access codes are convoluted, but there is an

available wallet card (two copies for separate users).

If you don't want to use the separate mailboxes, you can just

ignore that option and the default is to have all messages go

to the first mailbox.

Buy AT&T 1726 Digital Answering System with 3 Mailboxes Now

By the way, Staples has it for $29. 7/25/04

I'm very happy with this purchase. It replaced a 16 year old Code-A-Phone microtape unit. Sound quality of this AT&T is better than the tape unit. Three mailbox feature is neat and the ability to move messages among mailboxes is super handy for moving old messages to a different mailbox so they will not clutter up your incoming mailbox. Setup is super easy using just two buttons Setup and Skip. Hold Setup Button down for 3 seconds and voice prompt will appear to walk you through the setup process. Monmentarily press Setup to index to the next setup parameter or press Skip to change the parameter value.

I have the answers to some of the complains from older reviews.

1) Can only record greeting after 20 second. The reason is the machine does not allow you to record your greeting if you're in Setup mode. 1st select your outgoing message A, B, or C (A0 is for announce only). Press Stop to exit Setup. Now you can record immediately.

2) Static at end of outgoing message. If you release the record button abruptly, then the sensitive microphone will pick it up as static. Solution to that is to release the record button gently. It's true that the it will take some practice to record a good outgoing message. The main thing is to find the ideal distance from the mic and speak in even tones.

3) Lack of caller ID display. I wish it has that too, but I guess then the cost would go up. This feature is really not needed because most phones have caller IDs anyway. What? You don't have caller ID on your phone???

4) I read reviews on the AT&T 1719 that it reverts to announce only mode after a power failure. I tested that feature by unplugging the power cord from the unit and I'm happy to say that the 1726 worked perfect. All my messages were saved and the machine is still able to pickup phone calls and record messages.

I have not use the remote feature yet so I can't comment on it. I've only have this unit for about a week and so far I'm very happy with it. The only wish I had is for it to use standard flash memory cards to store messages. That way it would be a true replacement for a tape unit. Maybe future generations will have that...

Read Best Reviews of AT&T 1726 Digital Answering System with 3 Mailboxes Here

I got the machine for a friend and I and am happy with the quality and volume of the sound and also the message capacity. However, while setting up the time/day, I discovered that this machine reads the the time/day info in the following format, "Monday, 12:35 PM, 2005." So we have a message from Monday.

BUT WHICH MONDAY OF THE YEAR?!!!

If you are gone for three weeks or if you choose to save an old message for an extended period of time (yes there are good reasons to save some old messages), now you have no clue when the message was left. ATT said they have received many calls regarding this really dumb mistake and that they will include the month/date on their next model. Overall, if you do not care about the date issue, get this machine. If you need to know the date a message was left, this is not the machine for you.

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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.