@Phil1234 I ended up returning the router to the retailer. BUT because I was curious (and wanted this to router to work), I bought another one ... used, to see if it was the hardware, and had similar...

@Tony no change in connectivity. Any other suggestions for this issue? I'm giving it one last chance before it's being returned along with appropriate review regarding reliability.

Ok tried what you suggested, not too worried about the throughput (although that's becoming an issue as well. I have to reboot the router nearly everyday to get full spped from my cable connection)....

@Tony Ok, I hope that isn't the case, but if it is, what are my options? I also reset it to factory settings and that didn't help either.

Tried your suggestions Tony, but still the same issues. Any other suggestions please?

@Tony Well I reapplied the latest firmware and it did nothing. Then I downgraded the firmware to 1.1.0 Build 20180904 rel.41828(5553) to see if that did anything. But still having issues. I'll try...