Basically you are correct Chrys, bridge mode though would disable the router side altogether though which to me is a misleading.
The workround ATM leaves you double NATed as you know so just being able to switch off NAT in the SH would be an improvement, if the firewall is switched off as well then certainly to my mind the SH router side would pass all traffic without hinderance.
However, your personal router would still be connecting to the IP of the SH router not directly to the modem side.
We know the SH has 2 IP addys. 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.100.1 the second being the modem side. (try it, it works).
So for true bridge mode 192.168.0.1 and the accompying Guest IP of 192.168.1.1 need to be able to be disabled in the SH to give true bridge mode where your router can use either of the 2 IP addys to connect to the modem side without any conflict.
Now to answer Ben, you keep coming out with different PDF files for different modem/routers to try to explain why the SH is what it is!
The SH is what it is, is purely and simply because that is what VM asked for. There are those who have already SSH'ed into it and found many parts of the GUI disabled etc.( they still exist in the firmware/software, just turned off.).
VM got what they asked for!
For those who would like to view the result of accessing the hub see here.
http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/.../379669#M40501