Thanks for the responses!
All my apple gear work just fine - iPad airs, rMBPs, MB Airs and iPhones.
Citizen X:
Don't get me started with the genius bar. The blood pressure starts to rise just thinking about those chaps, honestly!
I've got business Apple care on my devices - basically you don't have to wait to see a child and frankly, the service is apples and oranges.
I'm a windows guy myself, and you better believe those mac devices are running Windows for real work lol.
On point, the 1520 in question worked under wp8.0.
On wp8.1 I have tried it with cellular off - thanks for the post, it shares my mindset and way of thinking!
I've also tried to connect it to an ssid (hidden) coming off an Asus 66u router, an ac/n compliant one - no luck.
I have no idea what is going on?