Router issue - not specific to Vista

I have a Belkin Pre-N router that was purchased when Pre-N was first introduced. It is running the latest firmware.

The wireless coverage has been AWESOME. I bought it because I had read how "dead spots" wire virtually eliminated, and how no matter where I placed my PCs in the household, they were in a dead spot (luck of the draw?). I don't use Pre-N NICs, but rather a mix of B and G connections.

Until recently it has run flawlessly. It's been a while since Belkin released any firmwares for this particular model though, so no recent changes have been made.

Recently (past 6 months or so) I've run into a few issues that appear to be directly related to the router.

1) Sending vary large attachments (7.1 megapixel uncropped photos - leave it to my wife to send these big suckers!) through Gmail causes the router to hang up to the point where it must be unplugged from the power and plugged back in. Wireless connection stays up, but all communications in/out halt. This does not appear to be an issue using Yahoo mail or Hotmail. Also, transferring of large files (inbound or outbound) via FTP or remote desktop connection is not an issue. Get this though - I can still connect to the 192.168.2.1 address for the router and look through the administration pages... Restarting the router via that page doesn't help though - it has to be power cycled.

2) Every 4-5 days all communications to my home servers/PCs attached to the wireless network halts, however you can still ping the router from the web and get responses. Again,I can still connect to the 192.168.2.1 address for the router and look through the administration pages... Restarting the router via that page doesn't help though - it has to be power cycled.

These are becoming rather tiresome problems. I don't want to leave the web-based administration open to the web, because I have another hosting on port 80 (this router does not allow you to change the port). I have web and FTP services running on various boxes, and I stream my police scanner on another port from another PC (using ProScan 1.8) also, and have a very regular group of people who monitor using that feed as well.

I can't realistically drive 30 miles home and back to work just because of the router having choked either, so, if it dies right after I get to work my access (or anyone elses for that matter) to the machines and their hosted services is cut off until I get home for the night.

So, is this just a problem with my router? Time to replace it?