Customer Reviews

AT&T 1725 Digital Answering System with Voice Mailboxes (Dove Gray)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought my 1725 about 6 years ago (in 1998) and it has never failed me. When I recently got married, my husband had the same machine and has had his for 3 or 4 years. We are giving away one of the machines to a friend since they both still work well. Neither my husband or I have ever had a problem with it. I love the amount of time we have on the machine and we can instruct someone to use another box on the machine so we know right away if they have called. I'm sure there are newer and better machines out there now but we don't need to bother with them. This still fits my needs after 6 years.

I bought two of these units back in the mid 90's, one for the office and one for our home. I still have one of them and it's working like a champ over 15 years later. We gave away the second machine and now I wish I had it back, because the newer model digital answering machines just don't seem to have the call quality, ease of use and durability. The 1725 has 4 different mailboxes, so you can put on your recorded message: "Press 1 for Bob, 2 for Frank, 3 for Betty and 4 for Linda." and the call will go to one of the 4 boxes for easy retrieval. This way, Betty can push the mailbox #3 button and hear just the messages left for her. What is most impressive is the quality of the recorded sound. It's loud enough, very clear and doesn't have any static or fuzziness. Since owning this machine we've bought 2 others by AT&T and they're nowhere near as good, with very bad sound distortion and noise. I guess AT&T has decided that standalone answering machines are a dead end and are putting as little effort into them as possible.

By clicking the "forward" button you can jump to the next recorded message. Some of the new machines force you to listen to the whole message before jumping or deleting. Setting the time, date and outgoing message is a breeze and very intuitive. There's a small black display that shows how many messages have been recorded in red LEDs.

If you can find one of these old units and it still works, buy it. It's a champ and you won't be disappointed.

I was introduced to answering machines as a sales rep for Lanier Business Products. Lanier in the 1980's offered call in dictation systems. One product, The Messenger, had four microcassettes offering separate messages boxes. Telephone tones allowed remote retrieval as well as control over dictating messages. I checked one of these out of inventory and used this $2000 machine in my home. I liked the products and the company name. When i left Lanier i took the name as a ficticious business name. I changed my name to Lanier when I married.

Years later I managed my wife's medical practice. We have tried many answering machines over the years. The GE two tapes system worked decently. These tape machines broke down often due to the mechanical nature. Operationally I had been spoiled by my Lanier machine.

The AT&T 1725 peforms similar to the Messenger yet with a digital system. We bought the 1725 for the home and office. I have used the same machines for approximately 15 years without any problems.

Programming is simple. Message retrieval is simple and commands are announced as needed. The best function is easily moving messages to other boxes for later use. Also the ability to leave a message in a box other than the default box one. I at times use the outgoing announcement to guide messages into specific boxes.

Two outgoing messages simplify situations of in the office and out of the office.

Robert J. Lanier June 2008

I got about 5 months out of this machine before it went kablooey (sp?). I returned it and they (not amazon, but Staples) could only give me another of the same model. 8 or 9 months later, I am looking at that machine and it doesn't work.
When it did work, the sound quality (announcement and incoming messages was very poor.
My next model I bought was the one that Staples happened to have: AT&T 1726 (!). The look of the machine is totally different, so I didn't make the brand connection. It failed in 7 months. My friend sent me hers ("works fine") thru the mail. I plugged it in and had the same problem. That makes 4 (four) AT&T answering machines that broke. The phone company came twice to investigate their lines/equipment, which were fine.
I suggest that AT&T reduce their warranty to 5 months. That way, they are free and we can just throw the things out.
In fairness, I should say that just today, while speaking to a Radio Shack tech, he told me that power surges could be the culprit. Being ignorant of these matters, I don't know...