I appreciate the feedback pacov. I wonder how many people actually use third party firmware around here.
I ended up going with Tomato as I really wanted just a basic/streamlined set-up... and the result is...
Wow!!
I cannot believe the difference in my internet. Pages load almost instantly when I click now.. I have been suffering through a noticable delay for awhile. Not an extended amount of time.. just a second or three. Actually Time Warner came trolling through the neighborhood earlier this week going door to door trying to get people to either switch over or upgrade to Turbo for free. The guy said they were trying to get ahead of cincinnati bell. I possibly believe him... although it would take a LOT for the dismal customer service of TW to step up and lead the pack.
Anyhow - I have been at a much higher UL/DL speed for the past couple of days and not even noticed.. other than my speedtest.net results. As of this router flash I can say that I am finally taking near full advantage of my connection. I'll keep tabs on how it all holds up once I add more devices.