Rating: 
Summary: Sound Quality Fails
Review: I was impressed with the compact size and fairly easy operation of the AT&T 1726. But that was about all I was impressed with. The description of the unit emphasizes it's sound quality. I guess it doesn't say that it's "good", though. I should have know. After recording my message many times using different distances from the unit and even using remote access, I was still unable to barely recognize what the announcement says. The playback and recording quality is equally poor. After spending the money on mine and after only 1 month in service, I sold it at a garage sale for $2. Believe me, the buyer got took.... both times!
Rating: 
Summary: Some nice bells and whistles; can be complex and frustrating
Review: I've been using this answering machine for almost two years now. I was originally attracted to it's multiple mailboxes and spoken-aloud caller ID feature. It delivers quite well on those two features, but is otherwise frustrating to use.
All of the unit's features are configured by pressing a single 'setup' button, and all the options are voice menu driven. This seems very convenient, but in reality it takes a good couple of minutes to cycle through all the dozens of options available to find the one you want and then set it properly. The prompts are unclear and the settings cryptic.
The absence of a back-up battery means that I lose my outgoing greeting about once a month on average. I would not recommend this unit if you have regular power outages (even a brief power 'hiccup' will reset the unit).
Probably my biggest issue with this unit is that it doesn't always work well via remote operation (when I call home using a touch tone phone). Even when I'm calling the machine from a quiet room using a regular (not cell) phone, I often find I need to enter my passcode at LEAST twice before it is recognized (and sometimes as many as 3 or 4 times). Also, the other remote operation codes are very unfriendly to enter and remember.
I've had about half a dozen answering machines in my lifetime. Comparatively, I'd say that this unit offers slightly above-average quality, but is also by far the most complex to operate.
Rating:
Summary: Keep looking - this ain't the one you want
Review: If you are looking for a quality answering machine, click that "Next" button, because this isn't the one you want. If you order it, save the box.. you'll be needing it.The positives:
a) Cheap.
b) Small footprint. The negatives:
a) Cheap.. very cheaply made in Communist China
b) Controls not well thought out... very small and difficult to read. On/Off button right in the middle of the display. Other features difficult to find.
c) Instructions are horrible. I'm a techno-geek, but I couldn't figure out how to setup the personal greetings... no matter how carefully followed the lousy directions (translated from Mandarin, perhaps?) I couldn't get the machine to record my greeting. Keep looking... this one isn't worth the aggravation you'll endure with it.
Rating: 
Summary: Hangup after 3 min OR 7 sec of silent
Review: Machine look good and with good voice quality. However, this machine is like all answering machines, it limits each message to 3 minutes then hang up. It also hangs up if it detected 7 seconds of silent. I bought this machine for business, I hate it when it cut my customers off if they happen to leave long message or speak too slow. ATT model 1343 does not have limit on the message length, but they no longer make them. If anyone know of answering machine without such limitation, please share your info via your review.
Rating: 
Summary: Works better than the answer machine of the Motorola MD681
Review: Not much to say other than I'm not disappointed in any way. This 1726 comes with a separate cord, not a captive cord that's never long enough, or needs an adapter if you've already got a cable, so no hassle there. Audio quality is fine, both out-going and incoming. If I had to complain about something it would be that there is nothing to complain about. Just the way I like it. I've a Motorola MD681 5.8 GHz w/answer machine on another line and the answer machine on that is of lesser quality than this 1726 (though the MD681 phone is pretty good, with great range and volume). AT&T used to stand for American Telephone & Telegraph. When did that change...
Rating:
Summary: Works better than the answer machine of the Motorola MD681
Review: Not much to say other than I'm not disappointed in any way. This 1726 comes with a separate cord, not a captive cord that's never long enough, or needs an adapter if you've already got a cable, so no hassle there. Audio quality is fine, both out-going and incoming. If I had to complain about something it would be that there is nothing to complain about. Just the way I like it. I've a Motorola MD681 5.8 GHz w/answer machine on another line and the answer machine on that is of lesser quality than this 1726 (though the MD681 phone is pretty good, with great range and volume). AT&T used to stand for American Telephone & Telegraph. When did that change...
Rating:
Summary: Hard to use with misleading features...
Review: The AT&T 1726 Digital Answering System is hard to use with misleading features. Yes it has 3 Mailboxes, but they can't have messages. I work in the tech industry & still found it almost impossible to program. I returned it the next day.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to use with misleading features...
Review: The AT&T 1726 Digital Answering System is hard to use with misleading features. Yes it has 3 Mailboxes, but they can't have messages. I work in the tech industry & still found it almost impossible to program. I returned it the next day.
Rating:
Summary: Reasonably Priced for What You Get
Review: The AT&T 1726 is a compact 3-mailbox answering machine. It's sound quality is fair but a real drawback is the fact that the announcement must be recorded "handsfree" (you can't use a telephone or a handset unless you call in remotely). It's sensative microphone picks up the slighest rustle of paper which also makes volume levels fluctuate. The 3 mailboxes are simple one-button access to easily recover your messages. Unfortunately, they are not accessed by password, which means anyone that has access to your machine can listen to anyone else's mailbox messages. It's date/time stamp provides day/time announce which means if the message is saved or not listened to initially for over a week, you don't know which "Tuesday" it's referring to - this week's or last weeks. Finally, when listening to messages, you have to listen to them over the speaker rather than a telephone handset (again, unless you call in remotely). That means everyone in the room hears your messages as you do. Overall, it's not a bad little machine for what it costs. I've been in the communications industry for over 25 years and have seen hundreds of answering machines. The 1726 has some great features even for a little box, such as 40 minutes of recording time, call screening/intercept, and announce only. The remote access is not easy to use and you must carry a card with you to know all the functions necessary to retrieve your messages. But the toll saver is a plus, even though it's on most untis that have been manufactured in the last 20 years. Number announce actually speaks the caller ID information however you must let it ring 3-4 times before it announces the info - which means your call is most likely going to the recorder before you have a chance to answer it. You can pick the call up even if it's gone to the recorder, but many callers hang up as soon as they hear the announcement anyway so you end up calling them back. A caller ID display works much better, though would add to the cost of the unit. If you're looking for a nice little answering machine, this isn't too bad. However don't be sold on the "3-mailbox" issue. You might as well get a standard "one-box" answering unit because ultimately, that's all this one does. If I see there are 4 messages, I can go to whichever boxes they are saved in and retrieve them. Why not simplify and just go to one box anyway? For the price it's okay. But I think I'll stay with my older Panasonic tape unit. The Panasonic sound quality is better and it's less hassle than this AT&T unit even though the Panasonic doesn't have the date/time stamp. I hope the 1726 sells well at the next garage sale....
Rating:
Summary: One big problem with the instructions...
Review: The instructions for recording your own message are unusable - once you select the greeting that you want to record (it allows pre-recording four) you have to wait twenty seconds or so for the system to reset. (The instructions don't mention this.) THEN, though the letter for the announcement you are recording is no longer displayed in the screen, you can hold down the button and it works as advertised. If you don't wait, holding down the button simply steps you to the next greeting slot. (I didn't diagnose this psychically - I called customer service after trying all the alternatives I thought of.) They don't tell you this on the ATT recorded voice mail help line either - you push *3 when the voice mail system starts offering options to talk to a real person. The help line's advice for this problem beyond "Make sure it's plugged in" is turn the power off for 60 seconds and then repower it so the software will reset, so that's probably also worth trying if you have trouble with the machine sometime. Though you have a choice about whether it plays your recorded announcement into the room when someone calls, the message someone is leaving always plays while they leave it. (There is a volume button right on the front, so I guess you could turn the sound on when you wanted to listen to a message and then turn it off again until the next time.) Otherwise, it seems respectable so far - the sound's adequate, and it's reducing my phone bill by $6.95 a month.
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