Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode, which disables most add-ons.

(If you're not using it, switch to the Default theme.)

• Open the Help menu and click on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item while Firefox is running.

Once you get the pop-up, just select "'Start in Safe Mode"

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article for that.

To exit the Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

Please report back soon.

Well if anyone works out what could cause googleapis.com to become a blackhole when five different web browsers across two different OSes try to access it, but pinging googleapis.com still works, please let me know.

Still highly frustrating. Still experiencing BS like my ISP trying to blame my Mac, as if it could have some hardware issue that targets only googleapis across multiple OSes and browsers :-D

How do you know that this issue occurs on other internet browsers and operating systems?

Please keep in mind that this could just be an issue on the server.

Because... it happens in other browsers and OSes on my Mac, as I stated in my OP?

Moderator removed link that promotes paid services users may not need.

Hi Friend. the main reason googleapis.com has to time out before websites will load is that there are a plenty of cookies, extensions, add-ons and browsing history left in your main browser. One easy way to speed up your browser is clear out allcookies, extensions, add-ons and browsing histories. 1):Click on the Wrench next to the address bar andnavigate to Tools > Extensions. 2): Search for any suspiciousextensions and remove them by clicking the trash can icon next to them. 3): Click the Chrome menu on thebrowser toolbar->Select Settings->Click Show advanced settings. In the"Privacy" section, click the Content settings button. 4): Inthe "Cookies" section, you can change the following cookies settings.Click all cookies and site data to open the Cookies and Other Data dialog. 5): Click Remove all cookies atthe bottom of the dialog to delete all cookies. If you still have the same problem, it is possible there is a virus on your browser, you can go to (removed)

Turns out the reason was DNS trouble with my ISP. The tech I spoke to had no idea why (but at least when I brought the problem to his attention he admitted it had to be something other than my setup, as obviously it had to be, given it affected multiple OSes and multiple browsers, as mentioned above - unlike the first ISP tech I spoke to a week ago, who insisted I magically had the same issue across multiple OSes and browsers... *sigh*), but switching from automatically assigned to static DNS server settings fixed this. Which is funny because they're the same DNS servers, either assigned or static... *scratches head* I could even see they were in network info.

Regardless, whatever screwiness is going on there, the problem is now worked around, and hopefully my ISP will eventually work out what's going on, on their end.