Firewall! I turned off the firewall on the laptop I was using with the VPN client and it worked. I was not optimistic, since I wasn't connecting into this laptop, but there you go. Thank you very much for that idea. I wouldn't have thought to try that. (My background was in programming, and I'm not a big networking guy.)FWIW...From the Netgear FAQ:
Does the Nighthawk X4S R7800 Router have SPI firewall?
The router has SPI firewall built-in but it cannot be customized. It cannot be enabled or disabled because it is not available even in the UI.
Not sure that this is related but generally a firewall is the first thing to check if you can't tunnel into a remote system if the address and protocols are correct...
On my iPhone, I deleted all the OpenVPN profiles and downloaded the profile again from the router, and now that worked too. :confused2: When I messed with it before, I was adding a new profile and leaving the original in place. Maybe I got myself confused somehow in that process?
The general internet connectivity has been stable for about a week. If it starts acting up again, I may still end up starting over from factory defaults or replacing the router.
As for Teamviewer or Chrome Remote Desktop, I could potentially go that route if the VPN still gives me hassles. The drawback is that I can only use that to connect to the laptop that is always on at home. From there, I could get to the network cameras, but it would be rather cumbersome when using the iPhone, which is the more common scenario for me.
I greatly appreciate everyone's feedback, and as usual, this place is an amazing source of information for just about any topic imaginable! :thumbsup: