Apple News not connected to Internet but all else is

On my iPhone 16 Pro Max, running iOS 18.2.1, Apple News (I'm a One subscriber) will often claim it's not connected to the Internet when I'm on the WiFi network at work. When I'm on cellular, or at home, it works fine.

I think I've traced the problem to DNS. At work, we block "DNS Encryption" services for security reasons. Instead, we route all DNS requests through Cisco Umbrella. Agree or disagree with this policy, this blocks requests to resolve "mask.icloud.com," "mask-h2.icloud.com," and "token.safebrowsing.apple."

Other apps, including Apple's own, deal with this just fine. They use the provided Umbrella DNS servers and resolve what they need resolved.

But Apple News only works about 1 out of every 10 times I try it. The strange thing is that it works at all. If it relies on using Apple's DNS masking and/or Private Relay, why does it occasionally work? And why doesn't it work when I turn off Private Relay and Limit IP Address Tracking on my phone?

Bottom line: once we created exceptions in our Umbrella policy for (allow listed) "mask.icloud.com" and "mask-h2.icloud.com," Apple News started working 100% of the time.