Still unable to log in, but the game installed... even patched (so content servers seem online)
Seems like everything is functioning to me.
I thought maybe the disconnect of the authentication servers would have blocked the content servers and thus caused physical media to be blocked but no... I'm not having any issues playing right now.
To further this study I'm going to yank the CAT5e cable and delete the install. See if anything happens if I install without the network patch functionality.