I am now, intermittently, able to connect without a VPN.....but it is sporadic at best. I'm now learning toward some kind of routing congestion or faulty switch/server along certain internet routes as the culprit. An IP block wouldn't act like that. Maybe @Captain Ewok can shed some light on the subject. The (almost) network engineer (1 course short of an MCSE in the 2000s) part of me is extremely curious.