AT&T 1738 User Manual

Strain-relief tab

1 Connect the telephone

line cord.

2 Connect the

telephone
(optional).

3 Connect the

power cord.

Standard
Electrical

Outlet

Modular
Telephone
Jack

© 2004 Advanced American Telephones.

All Rights Reserved.

AT&T and the Globe Design are

trademarks of AT&T Corp., licensed to

Advanced American Telephones.

Printed in China. Issue XAT&T 12/04

Visit us at www.telephones.att.com

1738 Digital
Answering System

USER’S MANUAL

Part 2

© 2004 Advanced American Telephones. All Rights Reserved.

AT&T and the Globe Design are trademarks of AT&T Corp., licensed to Advanced American Telephones.

Fold open this manual for information about
this product’s installation and operation.
Please also read Part 1 — Important

Product Information

1

INSTALLATION

Feature Setup

1 To enter Feature Setup mode, press and

hold S until the system announces
“V

OICE IS…”

2 Press and release S until the

system announces the feature you
want to set.

3 Press and release a or

r until the system

announces the setting you want.
Refer to the Feature Summary
for options.

4 Press and release S to set

up the next feature listed on the
Feature Summary

— OR —

Press and release P to
exit Feature Setup.

The new settings will be saved.

5 After you have selected the feature

options, you can review the settings
by pressing and releasing S.

FEATURE SETUP

When any feature is on, the Message Window displays

When any feature is off, the Message Window displays

Feature Summary

FEATURE: SYSTEM OPTIONS:

ANNOUNCES:

LANGUAGE “V

OICE IS...” • Choose ENGLISH to have the system

announce voice prompts in English.
Choose ESPANOL to have the system
announce voice prompts in Spanish.

• During setup the Message Window will
display the current language setting (E for
English or S for Spanish).

RING SELECT “NUMBER OF Choose how many times the line will

RINGS IS...” ring before the system answers a call.

• Set for 2 to 7 rings, or choose
Toll Saver 2/4 or Toll Saver 4/6.

• When set to Toll Saver 2/4, the system
answers after four rings when you have
no new messages and after two rings
when you do. Toll Saver 4/6 causes the
system to answer after six rings when
you have no new messages and after
four rings when you do.

• During setup, the Message Window will
display the number of rings (8 for Toll
Saver 2/4, or 9 for Toll Saver 4/6).

3

2

Feature Summary continued

FEATURE: SYSTEM OPTIONS:

ANNOUNCES:

REMOTE “REMOTE ACCESS

Change the Remote Access Code to

ACCESS CODE

CODE IS...” any three-digit number from 500 to 999.

• The Remote Access Code, preset to 500,
allows you to access many features of this
answering system remotely from a touch
tone phone.

• The system will prompt you to repeat
Steps 2 and 3 of Feature Setup until
you have set all three digits.

ANNOUNCEMENT “ANNOUNCEMENT Choose ON to hear the announcement
MONITOR MONITOR IS...” when your system answers a call. Choose

OFF to have it silent on your end. (Your
caller will still hear the announcement.)



NOTE: Volume must be set to a
level you can hear to use
Announcement Monitor.

NUMBER “NUMBER When this feature is on, the system will
ANNOUNCE ANNOUNCE IS...” announce the caller’s telephone number

(Please see between the second and third rings.
NOTE below. )



NOTE: When the Number Announce
feature is on and Ring Select is set for
two rings, the unit will answer after
two rings to allow enough time for
the system to announce the caller’s
telephone number.

STORE NUMBER “S

TORE NUMBER IS...” When this feature is on, the system

(Please see announces the caller’s telephone
NOTE below.) number when it plays back a message.

ACCEPT “A

CCEPT BLOCKED Choose ON to have the system accept

BLOCKED CALLS CALLS IS...” all calls. Choose OFF to have the system

(Please see respond to “blocked” calls with the
NOTE below.) pre-recorded announcement, “WE’RE SORRY,

BLOCKED CALLS TO THIS NUMBER CANNOT BE
ACCEPTED,” and hang up without recording

a message.

AUDIBLE “MESSAGE ALERT IS...” When this feature is on, the system beeps
MESSAGE ALERT every 15 seconds when you have new

messages.



NOTE: For this feature to work, you must subscribe to Caller Identification service from
your telephone service provider. There is a fee for this service, and it may not be available
in all areas.

FEATURE SETUP

Set the Clock

You must set the clock once so that the
system announces the correct day and time
with your messages. After this, if you
subscribe to Caller ID, the system will
automatically reset the clock each time new
call information is received.
Press P to exit at any time while
setting the clock.

1 Press and hold C until the Message

Window displays C, and the default day

is announced.

2 To change the day setting, press and

release r or a until
the correct day is announced.

3 Press and release C. The current

hour setting is announced.

4 To change the hour setting, press and

release r or a until
the correct hour is announced.

5 Press and release C. The current

minutes setting is announced.

6 To change the minutes setting, press and

release r or a until
the correct minutes setting is announced.

7 Press and release C. The current

year is announced.

8 To change the year setting, press and

release r or a until
the correct year is announced.

9 Press and release C. The new day,

time, and year are announced.
To check the clock, press and release
C.



NOTE: In the event of a power failure,
see the instructions on the bottom of
the unit to reset the clock.

Record Your Announcement

Before using this answering system, you
should record the announcement (up to
three minutes long) that callers will hear
when the system answers a call. If you
choose not to record an announcement,
the system answers with a pre-recorded
announcement: “HELLO.PLEASE LEAVE A

MESSAGE AFTER THE TONE.”

1 Press and hold a. When the

system beeps, speak toward the

microphone normally, from about nine

inches away. While you are recording,

the Message Window blinks .

2 To stop recording, release a.

The system automatically plays back

your announcement.
To review your announcement,press
and release a.

To erase your announcement and
return to the pre-recorded announcement,
press D while your announcement is
playing.

Callers can skip the announcement by
pressing #.

Record a Memo

You can record a memo up to three minutes
long to be stored as an incoming message.

1 Press and hold r. When

the system beeps, speak toward the

microphone.

2 To stop recording, release r.

3 To play the memo, press P.

Answer Calls

When the system answers a call, the caller
hears the announcement you recorded,
followed by a beep. After the beep, the
system begins recording your caller’s
message. A caller can leave a message
up to three minutes long. If the message
is longer than three minutes, or if the caller
is silent for more than seven seconds, or if
the system runs out of memory, the system
beeps once and hangs up.

Callers can skip over your announcement
by pressing #.

Call Screening/Intercept

Set the system to answer calls, and set the
volume control so you can hear the caller’s
message. If you choose not to hear the
caller’s message, adjust the volume to
the lowest setting. The Message Window
displays 0. If the Number Announce feature
is on, the caller’s telephone number will be
announced.



NOTE: If you listen to messages or
change feature settings, the volume will
automatically adjust to an audible level.
You will need to reset the volume to
the lowest setting.

If you decide to speak with the caller, lift the
handset of any telephone on the same line.

OPERATION

4 5

The system stops recording and resets
to answer calls. If the system doesn’t
disconnect immediately, press and release
the telephone switchhook.

Caller ID Number Announce



NOTE: For these features to work, you
must subscribe to Caller Identification
service from your telephone service
provider. There is a fee for this service,
and it may not be available in all areas.

This system can announce the telephone
number of a caller, between the second and
third rings. (See Feature Setup and Feature
Summary to turn this feature on).

Store Number

When this feature is on, the system will
announce a caller’s number when playing
back a message.

Accept Blocked Calls

When this feature is set to OFF, the system
will respond to “blocked” calls (those from
callers who have chosen to block their
numbers from identification) with the
pre-recorded announcement, “W

E’RE SORRY,

BLOCKED CALLS TO THIS NUMBER CANNOT BE
ACCEPTED.” The system then hangs up

without recording a message.

When this feature is set to ON, it will
answer and record messages from any caller.

Message Window

The Message Window displays the total
number of messages that have been
recorded. If there are more than nine
messages recorded, the Message Window
alternately displays the two digits of the
total number of messages recorded. If the

Message Window displays F, then the

memory is full and you’ll need to delete
messages before new ones can be recorded.

PLAY Light

The PLAY Light blinks when you have new
messages, and remains steady when you
have messages in memory that you’ve
already played. The PLAY Light is off when
there are no messages in memory.

Listen to Your Messages

As the system plays back messages, the
Message Window displays the number of
the message playing. Before playing each

message, the system announces the day and
time the message was received. If the clock
wasn’t set when the message was recorded,
either because you didn’t set the clock or
because there was a power failure after you
set it, the system will announce “P

OWER

FAILURE” after the time and day. After
playing the last message, the system
announces “END OF MESSAGES.”

Play messages — Press P. If you
have new messages, they will be played first,
then old messages. If you have no new
messages but have old messages, the old
messages will be played. If you have no
messages, the system announces “N

O

MESSAGES.”

Play message at half speed — Hold
down r while the message is
playing.

Play message twice as fast — Hold
down a while the message is
playing.

Repeat entire message — Press and
release r.

Repeat previous message — Press
r twice, and continue this
process to hear other previous messages.

Skip to next message — Press and
release a.

Stop message playback — Press and
release P.

Save Messages

The system automatically saves your
messages if you do not delete them.

The system can save about 40 minutes
of messages, including your announcement,

for a total of up to 99 messages. When
memory is full, you must delete some or
all messages before new messages can be
recorded.

Memory Monitor

You can determine the system’s remaining
recording time.

1 If the system is on, press O to

turn the system off.

2 Press O again to turn the system

on. The system announces the
remaining recording time in minutes.
(If under five minutes remain, the
system announces “T

HE MACHINE IS ON.

L

ESS THAN FIVE MINUTES TO RECORD.” )

OPERATION

Parts List

• 1738 Answering System

• Power Cord

• User Manual Part 1

• User Manual Part 2

• Wallet cards

Before You Install

Choose a location for the answering system
near a modular telephone jack and a
standard electrical outlet not controlled
by a wall switch.



NOTE: If you do not want to connect
a telephone, skip Step 2.

Use only the power cord supplied
with this product. If you need a
replacement, call 1-800-222-

3111. Input: 120 V, 60 Hz.

Output: 6V AC, 350 mA.

Turn System On/Off

Before proceeding to set up features, press
O to turn the system on. To turn the
system off, press O again.

When the system is off, the indicator above
the PLAY/STOP button is off and the
Message Window is blank.



NOTE: If the Message Window is blank
make sure the power cord is securely
connected to both the answering system
and an electrical outlet not controlled by
a wall switch. Press O to make sure
the system is on.

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6

Memory is Full

When memory is full, or 99 messages have
been recorded, the Message Window flashes

F. Delete messages to make room for new

ones.
When memory is full, the system answers
calls after 10 rings, and sounds two beeps
instead of your announcement.

Delete Messages

Delete all messages — Hold down D.
The system announces “M

ESSAGES DELETED”

and permanently deletes messages. The

Message Window displays 0. If you haven’t

listened to all of the messages, the system

plays an error tone and does not delete
messages.

Delete selected messages — Press and
release D while the message you want
to delete is being played. The system deletes
the message and plays the next message. If
you want to check a message before you
delete it, you can press r to
replay the message before deleting it.

When the system reaches the end of the
last message, the messages not deleted are
renumbered, and the Message Window
displays the total number of messages
remaining in memory.

OPERATION

Message Window Display

DISPLAY: FUNCTION:

Clock needs to be reset or system is in clock setting
mode.

Flashing – System is recording an announcement
or memo.

Steady – Announcement playing
— OR —

system is recording a message

— OR —

remote access is in progress.

Rotating – Deleting.

Flashing – memory is full.

Toll Saver is set to 2/4.

Toll Saver is set to 4/6.

Feature is on.

Feature is off.

Language is English.

Language is Spanish.

Brief display of volume setting when volume is adjusted.

7

Listen To, Save & Delete Messages

• The system automatically saves your
messages until you delete them. You
can store approximately 40 minutes of
messages, memos, and announcements
(up to a maximum of 99 messages).

• Before playing each message, the system
announces the day and time the
message was received. If Store Number
is set to on, the system also announces

the caller’s telephone number (see
“Store Number” under FEATURE
SETUP). After playing the last message,
the system announces “E

ND OF

MESSAGES.”

• You cannot delete a message until it’s
been reviewed; deleted messages cannot
be recovered.

OPERATION

8

Connect with the Answering System

You can access many features remotely from
a touch tone phone.

1 Dial your telephone number.
2 When the system answers, enter your

three-digit Remote Access Code during
or after the announcement. The system
announces the number of messages,
then begins message playback. If the
announcement continues to play after

entering your code, wait for the
announcement to end or press #
to stop the announcement, then
re-enter the code.

3 To use a remote access command

(below), press 5 during message
playback and wait for the two-beep
signal.

4 Enter a remote access command.

REMOTE OPERATION

9

If you have difficulty operating this phone, try the suggestions below. For Customer Service, visit
our website at www.telephones.att.com or call 1 800 222–3111. Please retain
your receipt as your proof of purchase.

To purchase accessories or replacement parts contact Customer Service. Visit our website at

www.telephones.att.com or call 1 800 222–3111.

ANSWERING SYSTEM OPERATION

PROBLEM SOLUTION

Messages Are • The system can accept messages up to three minutes long.
Incomplete If a caller leaves a very long message, part of it might be lost

when the system disconnects the call after three minutes.

• If the caller pauses for more than seven seconds, the system
stops recording and disconnects the call.

• If the system’s memory fills up during a message, the system
stops recording and disconnects the call.

PROBLEM SOLUTION

System Does Not • If the Toll Saver feature is on, the number of rings
Answer After Correct changes from four to two, or six to four, when you have
Number of Rings new messages waiting.

• In some cases, the system might be affected by the ringing

system used by the local telephone company.

• If the system’s memory is full or the system is off, the

system answers after 10 rings.

PROBLEM SOLUTION

System Will Not When memory is full, saved messages must be deleted before
Record Messages new messages can be recorded.

PROBLEM SOLUTION

Incoming Messages Press VOLUME + until volume is at desired level.
are Not Heard During
Recording

IN CASE OF DIFFICULTY

10 11

IN CASE OF DIFFICULTY

ANSWERING SYSTEM OPERATION

PROBLEM SOLUTION

System Does Not • Make sure you are calling from a touch tone phone.
Respond To Remote When you dial a number, you should hear tones. If you
Commands hear clicks instead, the phone is not a touch tone

telephone.

• The answering system may not detect the Remote Access
Code while your announcement is playing. Try waiting
until the announcement is over before entering the code.

• There may be noise interference on the phone line you
are using. Press dial buttons firmly.

• Make sure you are entering your Remote Access
Code correctly.

• You might be calling from a phone that sends tones
too short for your answering system to detect.

• If there are many messages recorded, the system may
take longer than usual to respond.

PROBLEM SOLUTION

Power Failure If the system is disconnected from AC power it will not operate.
Recovery Your announcement and messages are retained in memory

during a power failure, but you will need to reset the clock.
See the instructions on the bottom of the unit.

If the system announces, “POWER FAILURE” after announcing
the time and day, you may need to reset the clock. See the
instructions on the bottom of the unit.

PROBLEM SOLUTION

System Takes Longer If there are many messages recorded, the system may take
Than Usual To Respond longer than usual to respond audibly.

PROBLEM SOLUTION

Message Window • Make sure the power cord is securely connected to both
is Blank the answering system and an electrical outlet not controlled

by a wall switch.

• Press O to make sure the system is on.

GENERAL PRODUCT CARE

Feature Summary

FUNCTION: COMMAND:

VOICE HELP MENU Press 5.

PLAY ALL MESSAGES After the two beeps, wait four seconds for system to

automatically play back all messages, or press 1.

PLAY NEW MESSAGES Press 2.

REPEAT A MESSAGE Press 4 while the message is playing.

STOP MESSAGE PLAYBACK Press 5.

SKIP A MESSAGE Press 6 while the message is playing..

SAVE MESSAGE Hang up.

DELETE MESSAGE Press and release 3 while the message is playing.

DELETE ALL MESSAGES After you have listened to all messages and heard the

two beeps, press 33.

RECORD ANNOUNCEMENT Press *7; after beep, record announcement, press

5 to stop. System plays back announcement.

REVIEW ANNOUNCEMENT Press 7.

RECORD MEMO Press #; speak after beep; press 5 to exit.

SET THE CLOCK Press *8. Follow prompts to set day, time, and year.

TURN SYSTEM OFF Press *0.

TURN SYSTEM ON When system is off, it answers after 10 rings,

announces “THE MACHINE IS OFF,” then beeps twice.
Press 0.

MEMORY FULL When the memory is full, the system answers after

10 rings, announces “MEMORY IS FULL,” then beeps
twice. Enter your Remote Access Code and delete
some or all messages.

END REMOTE ACCESS CALL Press *9. The system announces “THE MACHINE

WILL NOW HANG UP,” and disconnects the call.

To keep your phone working and looking good, follow these guidelines:

• Avoid putting it near heating appliances and devices that generate electrical noise (for
example, motors or fluorescent lamps).

• DO NOT expose it to direct sunlight or moisture.

• Avoid dropping the phone and/or other rough treatment.

• Clean with a soft cloth.

• Never use a strong cleaning agent or abrasive powder because
this will damage the finish.

• Retain the original packaging in case you need to ship it at a
later date.

1738

Press to repeat
all or part of a message.

Press during time/day
announcement to repeat
previous message.

Hold to play at half speed.

Press to
turn the
system on
or off.

Off when
system is off.
System will not
answer calls.

On steadily
when system is
on with no new
messages.

Blinks once for
each new message
(up to nine).

Flashes quickly
when memory
is full. (Delete
messages to make
room for new
messages.)

Press to listen to ONLY
your new messages.

If you have no new messages,
press to listen to your old
messages.

Press during playback to stop
playback.

Press to skip all or
part of a message.

Hold to play
twice as fast.

Press to

delete the

message

that’s playing.

Hold to

delete all

messages.

Press to

adjust volume.

System beeps
three times at

highest or

lowest setting

and message

window briefly

displays current

setting.

To operate the system, follow the instructions below.

Message Window.

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