Issues, Workarounds & Localization

Hi people, this is my first post on the forums, sorry if this particular issue has been handled somewhere else, I've read through 5 or more pages without finding this particular issue as a topic.

Like it says, after entering account details and clicking play, there will be random occasions when the loading bar will just say Authenticating until the bar reaches the end and stays there for more than 5 minutes before giving me "Connection Timeout - The server did not initiate the compatibility-handshake within a reasonable amount of time". Usually after about 5 or more tries it finally logs in but as of me writing this now I have tried over 20 times, reset my modem, reset the PC, 'fixed' the launcher, nada, nothing, just happily Authenticating.

Is there a work around to this that I might have missed? Again sorry if this has already been handled somewhere else...a point in the right direction would be appreciated.

PS: I've only resubbed a little over a week ago after being absent almost a year, so I'm unaware of things.

Edit: Been trying for almost 3 hours now, cannot log in.

Edit: Day 2 again, was able to log once, not again. Searching all forums for the phrase "Authenticating" shows a few cases of the issue dating to last year(2012) and even longer, but there are no answers, it's like this is minor enough to overlook. WTF this is making me furious! My free time is running out and I paid for this!