Would connecting to my cellphone hotspot be better than public wifi for testing? I'll try many configs and keep better track of them, might take couple days though.
Think I figured out what is going on and fixed it.
I have 2 server entries in the app. 1 is a local ip address and the other is a dynamic DNS entry for when I'm away on a secure network. When I'm away using my devices on an unsecured network, I will always connect to the home VPN.
The app was auto selecting the dynamic DNS server when connected through the VPN. This was causing all the stutters and stops. As soon as I backed out and selected the local ip, everything worked fine. That is also why I was able to get it working through the browser while connected to the VPN. I logged in through the local ip address.