Just started using my own router with the Telus one on Bridge. Noticed there is often, not always, a 1 to 2 second page load web pages the first time, that vanishes when using VPN.
On my non Telus router I went in and specified explicit DNS servers (I used Google's 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4). Totally fixed the issue.
Hope this helps someone, if they forgot to do this and are noticing slow initial webpage loads.