Ionic Android Firebase - Internet Disconnect

I have made an application for both iOS and Android using Ionic 3. The iOS application always maintains an internet connection given that there is either wifi available or it can get a data signal.

Occasionally the Android version will often disconnect and I cannot easily reconnect to the internet. It seems as if reloading the application is the only way. I am often seeing a ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT error. I have placed the whitelist plugin in and tried many other commonly recommended fixes, yet it seems as if there is something inherent to Android, Ionic and Firebase that is causing the connection to frequently disconnect.

I have tried to use a firebase goOffline and goOnline for when the app pauses and resumes. Has anyone else ran into these problems? Here is some basic info of my env:

cli packages: (/usr/local/lib/node_modules)

@ionic/cli-utils  : 1.19.1
ionic (Ionic CLI) : 3.19.1

global packages:

cordova (Cordova CLI) : 8.0.0 

local packages:

@ionic/app-scripts : 3.1.8
Cordova Platforms  : android 6.2.3
Ionic Framework    : ionic-angular 3.9.2

System:

ios-deploy : 1.9.2 
ios-sim    : 5.0.13 
Node       : v8.9.3
npm        : 5.6.0 
OS         : macOS High Sierra
Xcode      : Xcode 9.2 Build version 9C40b