All the postings of connection problems on the forums concerned me so I set out to stress the system with the latest firmware. the router came with 1.21NA but I updated it immediately after powering up and before configuring anything.
-Torrent server running with 150 torrents all attempting downloads at the same time, averaging 280k upload with the automatic upload checked but only about 40+ were actually downloading.
-The WI streaming video from the Nintendo channel
-PS3 doing a 4 hour video chat
With all this stuff running, all clients in the house, totalling 4, that weren't part of the test above still had internet access without any problem. the router hasn't ever rebooted except during configuration and the only problem I've found so far appears to be a power saving feature of my phone gives it half A$$ connection to the network. setting the phone wireless to max performance fixes the issue so I don't think it's the router.
However, my 'new' router did come with scratches on the screen. I wonder if if was reboxed but figured it won't get looked at anyway, and won't stay on for the coolness factor.