AT&T 1739 Corded Digital Answering System, White
by AT&T
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List Price: Our Price: $15.51 You Save: $2.44 (14%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $7.90 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of AT&T 1739 Corded Digital Answering System, White
Customer Review: Great Basic Answering Machine, Easy Set-Up, No-Hassle Use
Summary: 4 Stars
This unit does come with a phone cord. Although it's hardwired to the unit itself, if I ever need a longer line, I would purchase an inexpensive extension. I owned an older mode of this unit about eight years ago and like this one better in a number of respects. It comes with simple to understand directions, set-up is hassle-free and extremely easy.
I have no problem setting the volume to "no volume" and having it take messages silently if I don't want bothered at a particular time. The directions specify that after you play a message however, that you must re-set the volume to low again to place it in the silent (or less volume) mode. Not a hard thing to remember, and certainly not an issue. It only entails pushing a button a few times.
There is some crackling at times in the playback (why it did not get five stars from me), however I found that if the volume is increased, the crackling (or break-up) disappears. I have had no problem understanding any of the messages left and feel that at times, people do not speak clearly, loydly enough, etc. (as was the case with my older unit) so cannot fault the unit for this. However, I have had callers with both booming voices and people who talk softly by nature (and everyine in between) leave messages, and again, have had no problem understanding any of them.
A plus my older unit did not have it that this unit does not record messages that are hang-up calls (typical telemarketer ploy), which was always a nusiance on the older unit. A royal time-waster. No problem in that regard with this unit.
We have several different phones and have gotten no interference. We have this unit set up with no phone attached to it (it does have a plug in it for a phone jack, so you can plug this unit into the wall jack and then plug a phone directly into the unit, by the way ~ a feature I wondered about as it is not in the product description and no one mentioned it in any of the reviews). But yoe do not need to plug a phone into it for it to work. A nice option, for us, anyway.
You can't beat it for the money, it is nearly pure simplicity. Much less than phone company voice mail, much easier to access. Just go through the instructions step-by-step and keep them handy in case you want to change the setting on any feature. It has a smaller footprint than my older unit also, so was easy to place where we wanted it to be.
If you are looking for an easy-to-use, easy-to-set-up, few-frills unit, you will have a hard time beating this deal on Amazon anywhere ~ less than $18 with SuperSaver Shipping thrown in. I would have spent twice that much running around looking for one. Stay away from the GE units, the AT&T units are hardworking and durable.
And yes, it is made in China. Show me one made in the USA and I will gladly buy it!
Customer Review: Digital Answering Machines Are Not Better Than Analog/Tape Answering Machines
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought the AT&T 1739 digital answering machine and returned it the same day that I recieved it. The AT&T 1739 was easy to setup and operate and has the same basic features of various other digital answering machines that I have owned and that friends have owned. I have experience with about 4 or 5 digital answering machines.
I own a small business. My biggest problem with the AT&T 1739 is that the call screening feature automatically adjust the volume up to a level that can be herd when a call is answered. When in a meeting and a call comes in the AT&T 1739 adjusts the volume level up so that everyone in the room can hear private incomming calls. The feature is not adjustable and you cannot turn it off. Everyone in the room can hear all incomming calls. The volume adjustment is useless as the machine overrides the volume setting to a audible level when a call comes in. When I adjust the volume level to the lowest level, I would like it to stay there until I decide to turn it up.
In general, digital answering machines have low sound quality and limited fexibility with respect to recording time and limited flexibility with respect to transferring recorded messages off of the machine for future reference.
With tape answering machines the tapes are removable and can be saved indefinetly by removing them and inserting a new tape. The cassettes can be played on any tape player. Cassette tapes are cheap, easy to find and provide great flexibility.
I bought a cassette tape answering machine (Panasonic KX-T5100) and it has all of the features and flexibility I require. They are hard to find new but I was able to find a refurbished one on ebay.
Digital answering machines are low quality and have limited flexibility. In the case of answering machines the older tape/analog machines are of higher quality and have more flexibility than the digital answering machines.
I am sure digital machines could be made with higher quality but with the telephone company answering service, the demand may not be great enough to force manufacturers to make quality answering machines. Before cancelling the phone companies answering service, the cost of the phone companies answering service was $10/month. I bought my answering machine for $50. Therefore, the machine will pay for itself in 5 months and I have full control over my messages.
Customer Review: Easy, economical, but sound could be improved
Summary: 4 Stars
I really like this machine because it is a lot more intuitive than the vtech we have on another line.
This ease-of-use is due partly a brief written tutorial included with the phone in case you need it, but even nicer is the fact that, as you're setting up the functions, the machine gives you audio instructions as well. I just LOVE products that do what they should without my having to read a novella to figure out how to make that happen, and if it's so easy to figure out that I don't need to read at all, I'll buy it. A well-designed product should be so self-explanatory that reading should be minimal, and I found that to be the case with this machine.
The only thing that could definitely be improved is the sound quality, both incoming and outgoing (my own greeting). It's sometimes hard to catch the name or number if people talk too fast or are calling from a cell. But it's not a major problem, and for the price, it's alright. I don't see the point in paying every month to get voice mail when this machine does precisely the same thing without storing my messages in someone else's server, and here I can save my messages to my heart's content without having to re-save after 21 days. We've all gotten those sweet greetings we never want to erase, and contact info on which we'll be following up periodically. Now, if ATT provided a way to get those off the machine and save in an audio file so we could run those as we're taking care of our follow-ups (helpful business app), that would be innovative and I'd love it.
As it stands, however, this machine provides a nice package of features. You can decide whether or not you want your messages broadcast as they come in, whether or not you want the phone numbers announced so you can hear it across the room and decide if the call is something you want to drop what you're doing to answer, you choose whether or not you want the number stored with the message, whether to accept blocked calls, receive a message alert (beeps every 15 seconds to let you know there's a new call if you forget to check when you come home), etc. You also get remote access, language setting, ring select (choose how many before the machine picks up, between 2 and 7), and a dedicated button for set-up.
All told, it's a nice little package for a just a few clams, and no monthly fee from the phone company.
I like it.
Customer Review: Very poor and distorted sound quality
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased this AT&T 1739 answering machine 6 weeks ago and, unfortunately, didn't bother to set it up until yesterday which means my return privilege has expired, otherwise it would have gone back in a flash.
The unit is easy to set up, logical in the way it functions, and takes up very little counter space (though I don't like the way the telephone line connector cord is hard wired into the unit, itself, so you'll have to replace the entire machine if the line cord ever becomes damaged).
The real problem with this machine is that the message record/playback sound quality is absolutely horrible. It is nearly impossible to identify callers by the sound of their voice because this machine alters and distorts the voices so much. All messages are recorded with a very poor "digital-like" electronic sound quality which is very choppy and unnatural (like a very bad 'futuristic' movie from the early 60's). It's almost as if little bits of the digital data are being discarded instead of recorded in order to save memory space. It also severely limits the audio frequencies of the recording which makes words muffled and unintelligible ("S"'s sound like "F"'s, etc.).
For example, she might have left you a message that said "last night was just heaven", but you might have thought she said "last night was just a seven" -- not exactly a confidence-builder, if you know what I mean. The sound quality is so poor it's almost as if the caller were holding a cloth over the phone to disguise their voice. (Then again, maybe those ARE blackmailers who keep calling me. It's hard to tell.)
What that all means to you is that if someone calls and leaves a message like "Honey, don't bother to pick up the kids this afternoon because I'm going to do it on the way home" you just better hope it's not a wrong number because you will have no way of knowing that the voice on the other end wasn't that of your wife.
It's too bad because AT&T used to make very high quality products. Now I suppose they just license their name to anyone who will pay them to use it. I know choices are limited for answering machines, but my recommendation is to stay far away from this one. Unless, of course, you're into blackmail.
Customer Review: Works Fine
Summary: 4 Stars
To those who have left a negative review about the sound or build quality of this device: what do you expect for such a low price??? Surely you cannot expect real high quality for something that has so many features for so little a price. Be realistic.
This answering machine was very easy to set up. The instructions that come with it are clear, in large print and with pictures and I feel the average person should have no problem doing the setup. You can set the number of rings before it answers; if you have caller ID it verbally announces the number of the party who is calling; it is very easy to record a greeting. In fact, everything is very easy about this machine.
As for the sound quality - it is not the best, but then neither is it unintelligible, either. It sounds "electronic." Unless you are an obsessed audiophile who must have realistic sound even from your answering machine, I don't think there is a reason to complain about the quality. The machine is also a nice, compact size if you have space considerations.
Granted, I have only used this for a few weeks so I can't comment on the durability but out of the box this machine is easy to set up and does what it is supposed to do. The only negative I have is that there is no display screen for the incoming call when using caller ID; it is purely a verbal announcement so if you miss it then you don't really know who is calling you.
I am satisfied with this unit and would recommend it.