You are correct, it is indeed my opinion, however if you will monitor other forums, etc. you will note that my experience is quite common and that it could indeed affect millions. As stated in my original post, I have tried every conceivable 'fix' for this condition as have many others I have discussed this with in person including the ones you have suggested including going to the expense of buying a new router. If this was an airplane, I would not fly it. APPLE has a great reputation and in time this glitch will be addressed, no doubt, but in the mean time it is incredibly frustrating.
Just for the record apart from administrating 4 of our forums I also am a member of some 10 tech forums both Apple and android. Yes I monitor all of these forums.
If you have taken your phone to an Apple Store and tested it on there wifi and still have issues they will replace it. It is that simple. If however it works then again I suggest the wifi router may be the issue. You could wait for a few days for 8.1 update then you will know if it is software related.
It appears this issue does not apply to all new phones nor every country. It could be a bad batch or a glitch which is affecting your phone. Again APPLECARE will cover this.
Hope that helps