Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

5 stars for the ATT 1740. It's perfect. I was particularly thrilled because there were a number of Amazon reviews that panned its predecessor, the ATT 1739. All the bad stuff they said about the 1739 is groundless. 1) The sound quality is superb, 2) the setup and button layout is easy, 3) you CAN intercept calls (that is, YOU CAN DO CALL SCREENING - that's a key reason to have an answering machine), 4) the unit's interaction with my telephone is flawless (no feedback). This is all based only on my unit, but it's so good, that if it were to stop working in 6 months, I'd just go buy another one. My main telephone is a 20 year old ATT 1545 Speakerphone + digital answering machine. It served me well for 2 decades (it outlasted my marriage). It is built in the grand old style of the Bell era monopolies. I've got it connected to a handset lifter and remote Plantronics headset. So, when the digital answering machine board in the old phone went bad, I was not about to replace it with any cheap, modern substitute. The solution is just to turn off the answering machine internal to the old ATT 1545, but still use it to make calls. But, I connect the ATT phone to my new ATT 1740 answering machine. Works like a charm! Yes, ATT no longer makes this product - it's actually made by "Advanced American Telephones," but so what. The Chinese need to eat. A word of advice to AAT and every other company making products reviewed on Amazon. If you give a hoot, respond to every single negative review. (My main goal is to improve humanity before the robots take over; see my articles on robotics, AI, and cognitive neuroscience at bobblum.com (all free).)