Just a quick update here (no pun intended, ):
NOA is shipping me a new Wii via UPS overnight 2-3 days, so hopefully I'll have it by the weekend.
The representative said my situation was probably due to an internal problem and not the update. I asked her what is the best way to connect, wireless router, and if so what brand, or via the USB Wi-Fi connector, so I could avoid any future problems. She said it shouldn't really matter as the Wii is pretty flexible. I told her I wanted to know because I would be a little hesitant running future updates, to which she responded its not the updates, and it was an internal problem which was exacerbated by the update.
So I guess for those who are hesitant to run the updates, I'd suggest you do them now while you are still in your 12 month warranty, because if there is something wrong internally with your Wii, better to find out now than later when you are outside the warranty.