Lawmakers Request DHS Investigation into Motorola Anticompetitive Allegations (7/15/1

[joetnymedic]

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Lawmakers Request DHS Investigation into Motorola Anticompetitive Allegations (7/15/14)
Ranking members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce requested an investigation into allegations of anticompetitive conduct by Motorola Solutions in the sale of public-safety telecommunications equipment and services in a letter to John Roth, inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). - click link above for full story

 

[jim202]

This should turn interesting. It has finally come out just what Motorola has been doing for years. Things like the Motorola proprietary encryption, the little know bit that they set in trunking to exclude other vendor radios, the bid specs on control knob spacing on portable radios and other hidden secrets.

Bring it on and lets see what develops.

 

[productionguy85]

This will be a waist of time and money. Motorola was selected because it was the best, and always will be the best. At the end of the day, each agency had there own power to choose any vender they wanted. Those who chose Moto, chose it because it's the best.

 

[Baker845]

Motorola is not the best. When big company with lot of money you can get people do what they want them to do. I can tell you about Motorola but its not radio subject. What I know about Motorola I never own radio with that name.

 

[productionguy85]

Motorola is not the best. When big company with lot of money you can get people do what they want them to do. I can tell you about Motorola but its not radio subject. What I know about Motorola I never own radio with that name.

Interesting, what do you consider the best? HYT?

 

[12dbsinad]

This will be a waist of time and money. Motorola was selected because it was the best, and always will be the best. At the end of the day, each agency had there own power to choose any vender they wanted. Those who chose Moto, chose it because it's the best.

Ummm.... they may be the best, but it isn't in their products. Bad business tactics, ripping of it's customers, etc, then yes i'd agree, they are the best at doing that. My county used to be a 100 percent Motorola products. Today, i'd say 75 percent are non Moto's, and that number is climbing on a daily basis... and this isn't just happening in my area.

 

[iamhere300]

Interesting, what do you consider the best? HYT?

I would say Tait gives Motorola a durn good run for the money. Quality as good as not better, innovation, and customer service, without all the silly games that Motorola plays.

 

[RADIOGUY2002]

Wait does this really surprise people? ****ty sales tactics, misleading promises, their not the only ones. Its just now their getting their turn as they sell off divisions it becomes easier to attack. I truly have no preference at this point for the vendor, each has their plus and minus. Each has a certain feature set, it really depends on the buyer. Ask ten or fifteen years ago, I might have a different opinion. For my customer and me it becomes feature set and price not name brand anymore. People are gradually getting away from name brand products if it is reliable and services their needs. I have Icom, Motorola and kenwood in my surplus so now you can understand why I am on the fence for a name brand. I have digital for icom and like it more then mototrbo. Mototrbo audio is by far way less clear then idas version of nxdn technology, however mototrbo has made the frequency slot logic better, but perhaps that's what leading to its distortion, perhaps not. But, I have yet to see one good working mototrbo system with good audio. And the select installers I talk with reflect the same view. And the funny or sad part you could say is they were die hard motorola fans. So u tell me? I still have no bias, I think their are a lot of factors involved to make the system work right. I feel that certain folks think that motorola is the best period and I don't think that's the right approach to radio communications, in this age of communication.

 

[davidzimmerman]

Motorola not #1? i own a lot of Motorola radios XTL-5000 UHF and 700\800 MHZ,Maxtrac LowBand 33 MHZ,XTS-2500 UHF and 800\700 MHZ i love them and would NOT own anything else

 

[krokus]

Being the most well known does not necessarily equal best. If that were the case, a certain company in the Seattle area would be selling the best operating system.

Sent via Tapatalk

 

[MTS2000des]

Yeah, let's see how far this goes.
My prediction: nowhere.

The Race to Waste has some powerful lobbying dollars, remember who OWNS congress.

News flash, it isn't you or I. So...in the words of the late George Carlin:

George Carlin on who owns America - YouTube

 

[iamhere300]

Motorola not #1? i own a lot of Motorola radios XTL-5000 UHF and 700\800 MHZ,Maxtrac LowBand 33 MHZ,XTS-2500 UHF and 800\700 MHZ i love them and would NOT own anything else

Spoken like a man with 0 experience in other radio brands. Try a Tait. Try a Harris.

 

[PVPD730]

Try a Tait. Try a Harris.

I'll take a EFJ 51SL or a Harris P7300 over any Motorola product. Doubtful this "investigation" goes anywhere. Motorola has very deep pockets and huge legal team.

 

[kayn1n32008]

Motorola not #1? i own a lot of Motorola radios XTL-5000 UHF and 700\800 MHZ,Maxtrac LowBand 33 MHZ,XTS-2500 UHF and 800\700 MHZ i love them and would NOT own anything else

Or Kenwood, or Vertex.

There are lots of other brands that make very good equipment, with out the hassle of dealing with MOL for software.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[brey1234]

The real problem

The real problem, people in the 911 centers have some knowledge about how their systems work. They are the ones who "recommend" their decisions to those awarding the contract who have NO IDEA whats best for the agencies the 911 centers serve.
Take the Pa State Police 'Open Sky" system.: During the RFP (bidding process) the state asked the prospective vendors to supply three OPERATING systems that each vendor had deployed. The company which got the contract put down Fed Ex twice and the third, the Orange California Transit Authority. The problem: At the time the OCTA was not OPERATING and the radios were not even installed in the buses and Fed Ex was put down as 2 operating systems not one. As you can see--right from the start there were problems.
I have brought this to the attention of the Pa Auditor General's office attention.

 

[magic_lantern]

half the problem

The procurement process is only half the problem, The other half is they build these systems so nobody but their technicians and repair depots have access to troubleshooting or parts availability. It forces most agencies to sign multi-million contracts for service and maintenance rather than have the inhouse techs fix it, techs that are quite capable of troubleshooting and repairing the problems IF they could get the documentation. these contracts are worth to the vendor than the initial cost of deployment.

 

[publicsafetyradio]

Is the Government waking up? I hope so.

—Explore whether, reports that Motorola won a Mississippi contract for a statewide radio system by bidding $90 million less than a rival, the company has a history of submitting low bids to capture contracts and whether Homeland Security grant money has then been used to finance contract modifications after the deals are inked.

—Identify all Homeland Security grants to state and local agencies that have selected Motorola as their vendor for public safety equipment and devices and specify whether those contracts were competitively bid.

—Assess whether the Department of Homeland Security’s guidance to grant recipients is sufficient to deter the use of proprietary features in public safety communications equipment, such as Motorola’s encryption software that won’t interact with non-Motorola radios.

Motorola knew what they were doing when they did it.

 

[mmckenna]

Motorola fanboys shouldn't get their undies in a bunch over this.

No one is saying that Motorola doesn't make good radios, they make very nice radios. The issue is how they do business, and how they treat their customers.
Several other companies make very good radios also. Anyone who thinks Motorola is the only company that makes decent radios has either never owned any of the other brands, or is just blind to what else is out there. I understand being loyal to a brand, but it's time to poke your head up and look around. Sole sourcing isn't permitted in most agencies based on loyalty. Using knob spacing as a requirement is dirty pool, and everyone knew that. Using proprietary features on "standard" systems was ignorant.

We used to be almost 100% Motorola, but Motorola failed to treat us respectfully as a customer and failed to meet our service and support needs/requirements. That drove us to other manufacturers. Motorola has done this to themselves. Time for them to put their big boy pants on and own up to it.

 

[dcr_inc]

Or the color of the radio case... kenwood and EFJ both changed their product color options to match Moto so they could bid... Does a RED radio work better that Gray??

Just remember this phrase " You can buy BETTER, But you will NEVER PAY MORE" ..

Oh and don't forget, it's your tax dollars that are being wasted on Bat wing BS..

 

[12dbsinad]

Just take a look at how fast Motorola EOL's it's products. It's ridiculous. A small city near me purchased 40 100w Astro Spectras advanced head with siren and systems 9000 control switches, near the end of production for Spectras. Close to $6000 each. They came with a maintenance contract. A lot of these units never saw a de-intstall/re-intstall into replacement cruisers, as they are "no longer supported". I mean really? A 6000 thousand dollar investment per radio and if bought at the end of production, in a few short years, you're screwed. Needless to say, that fleet now sports all Kenwood equipment.