AT&T 1726 Digital Answering System with 3 Mailboxes

I really can't find any cons about this device. It works as intended, is very easy to set up. The built-in male voice is very pleasant, all voice prompts are clear, easy to follow. Unlike a competing GE product, this one permits separate outgoing announcements on each of the three voicemail boxes. It's functional right out of the box. If you want to use the built-in announcement, it is ready to do the job as soon as you connect the phone line and plug in the power supply. Well, you can choose to spend abount 30 seconds to setup its clock, by pressing two buttons one after another. Recording your own announcements is also a snap. I also appreciate its very clear sound. It's an excellent little machine for a good price.

I bought this full featured item based on the positive reviews I read and assumed that the negative reviews were based on a normal number of defects given the massive amount of people who have likely bought this product. Well, lucky as I am, I'm massively disappointed to have wasted two hours of my time shopping on the internet, two hours of my time on a Saturday trying to get the product to work, and I'm sure another hour I'll spend to send it back. It looks great, is loaded with features. In my case there are two major problems...one of them critical. 1) The setup is a pain. And I'm resilient. I could get through this. But, 2) The speaker doesn't work at all. Silence. So you can't hear the voice commands that guide you and WORSE if you test the machine by leaving a voice mail message for yourself from your cell phone (or even WORSE if someone calls you and leaves a message) because the speaker doesn't work you can only guess what the message is. WHAT fun. Please. As another reviewer said, I am appalled by the recent dive in quality of AT&T products over the last few years and I will never, I repeat NEVER buy an AT&T product again for any price. It's just a complete waste of time to buy something this technically poor. PS. Amazon raised the price by 10 dollars after I bought this product. Terrible product, questionable product seller.

I expected a 3-mailbox system to have three passwords for remote reterival of messages. Instead, there is only one, which means that everyone knows what each other's messages are. The directions are also a bit confusing, although I finally stumbled through the set up. Otherwise the unit works fine!

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.

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.

I had purchased this system many years ago, and then, after several years of heavy usage and trusty service, it putzed out on us. I searched high and low for something comparable and couldn't find anything. I decided to look on Amazon.com - and really lucked out! This is why I love this answering system: 1) Audio Caller ID: the system verbally announces the number of incoming calls! 2)Separate mailboxes: we are a busy family, and so we each have our own mailboxes. 3) It's inexpensive (but NOT cheap!) 4) It's SUPER easy to use Now that I think about it....I should have bought two....

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.

This answering machine is terrific. It may be old school but it has many functions that I need to manage my 3 busy phones lines at work. I can leave 3 different messages for callers to hear depending on the time of day, and the caller can leave return messages also. This was a replacement for my original one that lasted over 10 years, and since this model is no longer made I was delighted to find it on Amazon. Great product.