Yeah, thought crossed my mind a few times, but I've not found any custom firmware that appears to support this router...plus it's only about 2 months old and I'm a bit hesitant to make drastic changes.
All that aside, though, many of my attempts at workaround would be rendered moot if I could get a custom firmware on here.
Anyway, thanks for your insight on this. We can consider the matter closed if you like.