Fixed the problem by performing an internet request instead of asking ionic for the connection type. It’s similar to the solution found in this post: Checking Internet connection - #6 by rapropos
Creds to @rapropos for this:
Establish a /heartbeat endpoint or something in your backend that just always returns 200 OK.
this._http.get('/heartbeat').subscribe(() => { // yep, good to go }, (err) => { // ruh roh });