So I guess I'm one of THOSE people now.
I went out to the nearby downtown area around 1:30 AM to see if the game actually performed better, and I was shocked that everything was (generally) fast and responsive. I ran into a bunch of nice, quiet people keeping to themselves all trying to catch the pokeymans and spin those stops.
I haven't been able to play the game as much as I would like. There are literally zero pokémon spawning in my residential neighborhood. So, taking strolls here before or after work are purely for my health.
That leaves me with my walking around downtown to and from my office, and although there are several stops around, pokémon are rarely spawning unless someone has dropped a lure. *shrug*
After a "full week" of playing, here's my top roster at level 11. Oh, and I still can't take on any local gyms. I tried earlier on a level four (the lowest I could see), and at my best I could beat only three of them. It's like an arms race, too. Every day I look at them, their CP is higher and higher.