Amazon.com Review
Don't miss your important calls just because you happen to be away from the phone. The AT&T 1717 records your incoming messages along with the time and day of the call. Plus, you get the convenience and reliability of all-digital tapeless technology.
Setting up the 1717 was easy--we just plugged in the AC adapter and the phone cord. We correctly guessed how to set the clock. A sticker on the bottom of the unit reminds you how to reset it in the event of a power failure.
To set features other than the clock, you press and hold the Setup button and follow the voice prompts. To record the outgoing message, you press and hold the Annc/Skip button. As is typical with AT&T answering devices, this was a little tricky, as the same button that confirms your message also resets the factory prerecorded outgoing message. Overall, setup was quick and easy--we didn't have to consult the manual for any feature, but some users will need to if the 1717 is their first answering machine.
When we removed the AC power, it reset the clock but didn't erase our messages; AT&T's Message Guard protects them from power failures. Sound quality is good but not excellent, just as we would expect for an answering machine in this price range.
Pros: - Inexpensive
- Quick setup
- Records up to 59 messages
Cons: - Four-minute recording limit per message
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(34 customer reviews) 45 of 46 people found the following review helpful
Decent valued, no-nonsense answering machine.,
July 27, 2000 Benjamin Dixon - See all my reviews
This review is from: AT&T 1717 Digital Answering System (Refurbished) (Office Product)
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.
51 of 55 people found the following review helpful
A very good machine,
December 8, 1999 Noname Nonameson (Texas) - See all my reviews
This review is from: AT&T 1717 Digital Answering System (Refurbished) (Office Product)
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.
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful
A Spartan Wonder,
February 9, 2000 TenneFee (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
This review is from: AT&T 1717 Digital Answering System (Refurbished) (Office Product)
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!
