Server disconnected. Connection to EA online timed out

"Server Disconnected. Connection to EA Online timed out. Your network bandwidth and/or network latency may not meet the requirements for this game"

The game will always freeze after the error menu. I'm on cable. I also tried restarting my router, running as admin on both the EA app and the game, and changing my DNS server. I notice this can be fixed without using a VPN to play for some people. I don't want to spend my money to play the game I already paid for it. Any help would be very appreciated.