[Verizon Motorola Droid Turbo Q&A, Help & Troublesh] ChazzMatt:
Got a PM from someone today also looking for help in connection QPST/QXDM to enable LTE bands in the Droid Turbo.

Many months ago I extensively messed around with those two programs for my Quark -- the XT1225, but I don't recommend anyone else trying it because unless the band is already there in the modem, but just locked down, using these programs will not actually enable any HSPA/LTE bands out of thin air.

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I connected my Moto Maxx XT1225 with QPST and QXDM to add LTE band 5 (for AT&T), because it was there in FCC testing but not there in "official" Motorola specs when actually released. My theory at the time was the LTE band 5 was there (confirmed by the FCC), but prior to release Motorola locked it down.

So, I went through all the steps to "enable" it -- but then we found out it was enabled all along. When Motorola released the Moto Turbo XT1225 (same FCC ID as the Moto Maxx XT1225, so IDENTICAL device) they finally admitted all the enabled bands the phone had. People in Canada who use LTE band 5 also confirmed their Moto Maxx XT1225 already had LTE band 5 enabled. (AT&T only has LTE band 5 in a few areas in the U.S. -- but I wanted to add it to my phones so I would have all the AT&T LTE bands, no matter where I went.)

So...

1) while it was an interesting education, all the work I did was not necessary for me. LTE band 5 was in the modem and already enabled.

2) Others have tried to add LTE band 20 for Europe and have not been successful. In QPST/QXDM, LTE band 20 will show as added -- but these people never actually RECEIVE LTE band 20. This means QPST/QXDM can't actually enable something that is not there in the first place. With Samsung phones and some other brands like One Plus with Snapdragon SoC, there has been success in enabling extra LTE bands, but that's because those manufacturers have all the bands present and then LOCK DOWN the bands they don't need/want for specific regions and carriers.

Whereas, with Motorola they never built a Quark with LTE band 20 in the first place. So, you can't enable it or any other bands through QPST/QXDM. Here's the bands all the Quarks have, listed below.

3) Unless you specifically need LTE band 13 or CDMA, the XT1225 is the better choice as it has more HSPA/LTE bands present and enabled.

I'm quoting myself below from a previous post, to lay out the Quark phones and their bands similarities/differences.

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TWO MOTOROLA QUARK PHONES -- RELEASED UNDER THREE MODEL NAMES

* The U.S. Moto Maxx XT1250 has the exact same bands as the Droid Turbo XT1254. Has the same FCC ID. The only difference is the XT1250 has an unlock-able bootloader. It's basically the dev version of the Droid Turbo. ;)

One of the best LIES Verizon ever foisted on the public is that the Droid Turbo was "exclusive". Only the Droid part of the NAME was exclusive -- because they own the rights to that name. Not the DEVICE, nor even the "Turbo" part of the name was exclusive. The EXACT same device, with exact same bands, exact same FCC ID is being sold by a dozen other carriers IN THE U.S.A.

* The U.S. Moto Maxx XT1250 (CDMA/GSM/HSPA/LTE) is not to be confused with the International Moto Maxx XT1225 and Moto Turbo XT1225 (see even the Turbo name is not exclusive), which are also Moto Quark phones but do not have CDMA bands enabled, and have a slightly different mix of LTE bands. Both the "International" XT1225 models are the same device, in spite of having two model names (Moto Turbo and Moto Maxx). Same FCC ID across all regions, same SKU.

See, there were two Motorola Quark phones -- with two different FCC IDs -- released under THREE model names: Moto Maxx, Moto Turbo, Droid Turbo

FCC ID IHDT56PK1:

XT1254 U.S. Droid Turbo/XT1250 U.S. Moto Maxx (identical device, CMDA/GSM/HSPA/LTE bands -- except for model name). The XT1250 will run on Verizon, with a Verizon SIM card. This device has LTE bands 2, 3, 4, 7, 13 enabled.

FCC ID IHDT56PK2:

XT1225 "international" Moto Turbo/XT1225 "international" Moto Maxx (identical device, GSM/HPSA/LTE bands, except for model names). This device has LTE bands 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 17 enabled.

(Moto stock ROM for the XT1225 is still Lollipop 5.0.2 -- but we've had custom Lollipop 5.1.1 ROM for several months, even before Verizon finally released 5.1.0 for the Droid Turbo XT1254.)

Of the two Quark models -- released under three models names (Moto Maxx, Moto Turbo, Droid Turbo) -- only the one with the model name "Droid Turbo" has locked down bootloader. The XT1250 U.S. Moto Maxx is basically the "dev" version of the XT1254 "Droid Turbo" if you can get your hands on it. (unlock-able bootloader, can be easily rooted, TWRP installed, etc.)

I'll repeat this: Unless you specifically need LTE band 13 or specifically need CDMA bands, then the Moto XT1225 is the phone you should be getting. It has more HSPA and LTE bands, it has bootloader that can be unlocked.

If you need LTE band 13 or CDMA bands, then you should consider finding the U.S. Moto Maxx XT1250.