Customer Reviews

AT&T 1719 Digital Answering Machine with Audible Caller ID

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

After happily living with my trusty Panasonic KX-T8000 for 12 years, I decided to move the Panny to my other house to replace a tape-based machine that had gone kaput. So I needed a new one for my main house. My first criterion was that it must have audible message alert (who needs another thing to remember to check after a long day at work?). That really narrowed it down to just the AT&T. I had read here that of some problems that others had experienced, so I purchased it at BestBuy which has a liberal return policy. But I'm definitely keeping it.

First, if the power goes out, it definitely resets itself to auto-answer. The messages are saved, but the clock needs to be reset. But what's great is that all you need to do is call the machine and it uses caller-id to set the clock--incredibly easy to set (that is, if you have caller-id).

Second, I have not had any problems with voice quality or with deadair filling the end of messages. Voices are clear and they cut off when the person hangs up. No shouting is required.

Third, if the hardwired cord is too short, just go to Radio Shack and get an extension cord. My answering machine gets its signal from my adjacent fax machine, so the supplied cord is more than long enough.

The audible message alert is better than in my old Panasonic because it's less loud and intrusive. My Panasonic was so loud, that if I got a call while I was sleeping, I had to turn it off to be able to sleep again, even though it was two rooms away. The AT&T alert is much softer. I could probably sleep right through it, though it's loud enough to hear in the same room.

The AT&T definitely isn't as sleek looking or elegantly designed as my old Panasonic, but it's good enough (because of audible alert, it doesn't have to be in view all the time). I can't believe how cheap this thing is, considering how much it does.

This one is a keeper!

Follow-up (3/30/05): I noticed Amazon isn't selling it directly anymore and the third-party merchants are pricing it pretty high. If you're near Fry's Electronics, they often have it on sale for less than 10 bucks.

Well I bought this as a gamble as there were no reviews on it I could find. The UI is a bit difficult to figure out at first, until you get the idea that "tap to view, hold to set" Sound was/is great. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone. Oh, one more thing. It's cheap

First, the bad part. Even though this is 2004, not 1967, this answering machine comes with a hardwired phone line cord that is maybe five or six feet long - not long enough to get from my phone jack to the table where I keep my answering machine. And from a call to AT&T, I learned that apparently ALL their answering machines are like this. Huh?

Okay, the better parts. First of all, the AT&T customer service person was friendly and helpful, and tried a few things to see if she could get me a free model to upgrade to.

More importantly, this model is about half the size of my previous tape answering machine. The voice quality is excellent on both the outbound greeting and the incoming messages. Setting up all the features, including the clock, took about five minutes (if you have caller ID with the phone company, the clock can also be set via an incoming call). Message playback/save/delete is easy. When calling in remotely for messages, you can key in "5" to hear a menu of options, in case you forget which key does what as I always do.

If only AT&T would have given this machine a jacked phone cord so I would have had the option to plug a longer line into it (you can buy a device to extend the cord cheaply at any electronics store), I'd have given it four or five stars. It's a delightful little gadget that is fine for any simple one-line home answering machine need.

I purchased this item at Walmart, for the same price. I almost didn't buy it because of the negative reviews, but I sure am glad I took the chance! I was tired of the monthly voice mail charge on my landline. I have had no problems, at all, with this machine. I've been using it for 2 months now. Set it up myself! The machine "speaks" the callers phone number on the second ring. It "beeps" when it has unheard messages - which is a plus if someone in your home forgets to check for messages.
It's simple and easy to use. I highly recommended it!!

My tape based answering machine finally needed replacement. When I looked at what was available, I was surprised to find that the selection was so much smaller since the last time I bought one. The expensive models have multiple mailboxes, a feature I don't need. I selected this model because it seemed to have the most of the important features as the model I was replacing. It even has a few extra features that I don't need, like caller id. But it also has a few shortcomings compared to my old answering machine. The sound quality of both the outgoing and incoming messages is understandable, but not as clear as I would like. I was disappointed that it only provides the day and time of the message, not the date. My old system provided the month, date and time. I have used the remote feature which works well. Its not the perfect system, but should be good enough for non-business use.

I highly recommend this answering machine. It is one of the easiest to use and all features work well. You'll definitely get your money's worth with this one!!

Machine has a fatal flaw.

The first one I bought did not work at all, and I replaced it.

The second one was fine for about a month, then began cutting out messages when I accessed them remotely. Yet messages were there when I came home. Great, got to come home to get a message!

ATT was very responsive and sent me a new machine. Worked great for three weeks. Hit the dust--same flaw re remote access--this week.

ATT is sending me the 1722. Have no idea whether it too is defective. Let's hope not. Wish we were back in the good old days when Lucent not VTech made ATT machines.

Only good thing I can say is that ATT does respond to calls.

Do not bother to buy this machine. For $20 the hassle and lack of a working machine it is not worth it. Three strikes...

I had one of the earlier AT&T digital models, which worked fine for about five years. Then it failed, and I bought the new model. The good thing about the AT&T models is that they use flash memory, so messages won't be lost if there is a loss of power. But the new model seems to be flawed. At the end of a message, after a caller hangs up, the machine records dead air for about thirty seconds before it resets. I returned the machine and got a second one, which did the same thing. The second one is also going back to the store.

I owned this unit for a few weeks before I realized it was not recording all incoming messages. I followed the troubleshooting guide and found the problem - messages will not be saved if the caller speaks too softly. I left myself a few 'test' messages and basically you have to shout in order to guarantee the message is saved. Rather than asking callers to shout at the machine I'm going to buy a different one.

First..it doesn't have a battery backup
Second, if you pick up while it's answering, it doesn't disconnect and you can't turn it off until the greeting is complete. That's enough for me. It's 3 weeks old and headed for the trash after I get a new one.