New start screen fails to load

Says failed to load http://www.cakewalk.com/start/sonar with error(-101)
 
This happened after I saved and closed a new project I just started tonight.
 
I closed Sonar and restarted and still get the error but the number changed. I disabled the network and restarted and now the new start screen comes up correctly.
 
Next I enabled the network again after closing Sonar. When I start Sonar this time it does load the startup screen but takes a very long time about 20 seconds before its ready to use the start screen. Shutdown and restarted Sonar again just to be sure and it still taking about 20 seconds to load the start menu. 
 
I just rebooted and now its back to taking 7-8 seconds to start. I disabled the network again and Sonar loads witht he start menu ready in 3 seconds. It sounds like I will be adding a firewall rule to block sonar from the network if this continues.
 
I also noticed that the start screen comes up if I opened a project directly without using the start screen. I have to close it to get it out of the way so I can work.
 
It also opens when I close a project. This may be intended but to me its annoying.
 
I like some things about the start menu but phoning home is not one of them.
 
Is anyone else experiencing these kinds of issues?
 
 

Mostly I like the new start screen. Now that I have a firewall rule that blocks it from phoning home it is very fast.
 
I suspect that the culprit here is my ISP not so much Cakewalk. Still I was just trying to determine if others are having similar issues.
 

@Dok I think adding an option to turn off the phoning home of the start screen would allow users an easier way to do this while leaving the new start page enabled. There is lots to like about the new start page so a little more improvement could make it even better.