Customer Reviews

AT&T 1717 Digital Answering System (Refurbished)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I've had this machine for almost a year now and have been very satisfied. Although digital, the sound quality is almost as good as a tape, though it does sound a bit tinny at times.

The 2 digital answering machines I've had before this (one Bell South, the other GE) both gave me the problem of hanging up on people in the middle of their messages. It seemed like half my messages were people saying, "Hi Ben, I'm calling back because your machine cut me off...". I've never had that problem with this AT&T, it's very reliable.

It also does a good job of cutting out messages that are nothing but dialtones (although one does slip in there every now and then) while also giving you time to screen the call. It's a nice gadget, very compact, and well worth the price.

Hi,

I have bought this model after an unsuccessful model of another manufacturer, which I returned. 1717 works almost perfect! Some nontrivial advantages are:

- Requires (actually) no battery;

- Full remote control, including change of announcement. Using this feature, you can ask callers to dial your current number;

- Saves messages in case of power failure;

- Consumes less than 10 Watt;

- Has a toll saver;

- Has reasonable threshold for decision to shut down if the voice level on input is low;

- Tells (does not display) the time when one button is pressed. I use this feature at nights.

Defects are: some (unimportant) features like jump forward-backward within a message do not work; voice quality is noticably worse than that of live telephone conversation; is too light to be swept off; the loudspeaker is small.

Altogether, however, for $30 it is a very good buy.

This machine is a no frills easy to use telephone answering system. I had it out of the box and working in just under one minute. PROS- (1)Inexpensive, (2)Easy to set up, (3)Easy to use. CONS- (1)Recording quality is not the best, (2)12 Minutes of recording time may not be enough for some consumers, however, 12 min. is more than enough for most users, (3)There is no three. To sum it all up, this is a great "bang for your buck" answering machine!

1. The sound quality is great for digital, and I've had the machine for a couple of years now. It is still going strong.

2. It lets you screen your calls, but there is no way to completely silence the machine (for instance, when you're sleeping). It'll silence your announcement, but not the caller's message.

3. There is no "announcement only" mode, which would be a nice feature if you don't want callers to leave a message. That would be no biggie if #2 didn't apply.

4. If you would want to change the "screening" feature from "on" to "off," you have to go through the entire menu -- and you can't skip through any of it. If anyone is in the room, they can hear what your security code is, plain and clear.

5. Nearly all of these problems would be solved if there was a "0" (completely silent) level for the volume.

6. All in all, it is a good answering machine for the price. It does do well with cutting off most of the hang-ups, and I like that if the power goes out, you don't lose your messages.

Replaced my old Phone Mate tape system with the 1717. The machine has all the features you could possibly ask for in a a nice small box which is very easy to use. The only gripe I have, is the digital playback is a bit muffled and could be clearer, though it is certainly quite audible as is. You can't beat this machine for the price!

I bought this answering machine as a cheap fix when the answering machine on my $150 ATT phone (with caller ID in the remote handset) quit working. The ATT 1717 works fine in conjunction with my half working phone. What I don't like about the ATT 1717 is that it allows a maximum of only 4 rings before picking up. This is not enough to keep all the telemarketer messages off the answering machine while I am away at work. I have found that nearly all telemarketers and telemarketer dialers hang up before 5 or 6 rings - which is what I want in an answering machine to avoid having to purge unwanted messages every evening.

The AT&T 1717 has nice features and decent sound quality for a digital answering machine of this price. It is simple to use and serves its purpose well. After a year of use, however, the machine began fading (unable to distribute power from the cord to the machine) and quickly died. It's now useless.

For people that just want an ordinary answering machine, this is great. Even though some specific models of this AT&T machine claim that they were rated #1 in sound quality, I did not totally aggree.

This is the best answering machine I have ever owned so far. Digital is the way to go. It doesn't lose messages like a tape machine does and you don't have to replace annoying tapes. I definitely like the day, date and time recording of each message.

This is truly the last bastion of decent answering machines out there. The functions and controls are simple. The setup is a no-brainer. And the little voice that tells me the time/date the caller left a message relieves me from straining to see my 9-point text size caller ID display. The outside/remote functions are great - you can do your basic checking of messages, change your code, or even listen for that burgular in your home.

Some minor pet peeves include the wide foot-print area - really with everything on a PCB and some resistors, this thing can be half the size or designed vertically. The second annoyance is you can't fast forward/rewind within a message. You've got to listen to its entirety. Hmm, and I thought digital was better than analog...

The big pet peeve is that I had one unit just gave up and died on me about 1 month after the purchase. There was this eerie howl of a voice that must have been the audio chip crying out its last whimper from a recent power surge.