What's With the WRT310N Anyway?

Question

Here's the deal, I've had the thing less than a month now.  My intent was to use it strictly as an 802.11n access point, not use routing at all as I have a router from AT&T as part of my cable TV/internet package, and it "should" have been easier to set this router up as a wireless access point.
It took a few false starts (the documentation listing how to chain the device as an acces point had different screens listed than what I was seeing in the admin tool), but once up I thought, "Good, I won't have to touch this again."
However every few days I either have to unplug it for a minute, or completely disconnect it from EVERYTHING before it becomes functional as a wireless access point.
Cisco/Linksys designers and quality control people, THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THIS, PERIOD.
In troubleshooting I "supposedly" turned on logging, but anytime I go to the logs, NOTHING shows up in the log on the device and NOTHING I can do seems to turn that on.  Again, A PRIMARY FUNCTION that seems to be inadequately designed.
Yet another problem is when attempting to troubleshoot via traceroute or ping.
When I ping, I see only ONE response, even though I specify 5 retries.  I want to see ALL 5 ping results, not whatever you interpret as relevant.  When I try and use traceroute, I get an error indicating that the device can't resolve anything, even if I specify a valid IP.
I mean seriously, the diagnostic tools on this thing are already significantly lacking, it does you no good to not have the few tools you make available on the device non-functional. 
As far as I can tell there's no way for the device to report what connections it believes it has or any information on those connections, a SERIOUS flaw in design, especially if I want to review policies and restrict access on MDAC.
For the love of all that's good, please update the firmware, FINNISH it so that it functions properly and all the tools are available, AND add some additional tools that are neccessary in troubleshooting and managing a network.
(Mod note: Off topic comments removed.)

Answer 1

Re 1. There are a lot of combo devices where you can't use the individual features alone. For instance, many modem/router combos (integrated router with modem) don't allow you to use the router without using the modem. The internet link has to go through the DSL or cable port of the combo if you want to use the router. So your theory is nice but reality is very different.
You cannot disable routing on the WRT. The WRT is designed to be a router. It's futile to discuss what else it could be designed for. Linksys designed it this way. It reduces complexity in configuration and thus also complexity of support to some extend. It's there decision. If you don't like the color of their router don't buy it...
Re 2. It's a home router. Linksys has never logged wireless connection activity. Linksys in general is very sparse in their logging. Again, this is a design decision which you have to accept. I know with other routers you have access to some raw linux logs showing all kinds of information. Again, this information often causes additional support calls because some people simply don't understand what it means and want to know if they have to worry about a specific log message or not. Or take Apple: their Airports don't log anything except through syslog if you set it up.
Plus, logging does not prove it's security, usability or reliability. Only because something logs "attempted wireless access from device aa-bb-cc-dd-ee-ff denied" does not make it more or less secure. Or how do you think logging dozens or hundreds of these messages could make your network more secure? And who do you think should generally read all those logs on a device designed for the average home user who has little or no knowledge about networking??
Re 3. Incorrect. If the WRT does not know a default gateway it can only access the LAN network. That's basic IP. Ping and traceroute work to all addresses in 192.168.1.* but not outside because the router does not know the default gateway. And likewise, the WRT does not know a DNS server thus it cannot resolve anything. The WRT is designed to have a working internet connection through its own WAN port. It is designed to get the default gateway and DNS server information through the WAN port. There is no other way to configure the default gateway and DNS servers if it's not through the WAN port. That's how they have designed it.
If you don't like it, well either buy a different router or install 3rd party firmware like dd-wrt or tomato (if possible). Then you get a lot more options and you have full access to the linux running on the router and you can configure anything you like and you can log anything you like (as long as the software running on there has logging capabilities).