HTTP Espressif arduino Client fails to connect - arduino-esp8266

Question

I need to make a simple GET call using HTTP. Despite successfully connecting to the WiFi network, getting the IP, Gateway and DNS correctly, The HTTP client keeps getting connection failed error. I tried using the WiFi client as well but no luck. It don't think the issue is with my code, I tried to use the code from the examples folder as well and it fails too. I tried connecting to a local internal server and it failed. I have spent about a whole day on this and I can't figure what could be wrong.
The code is given below. That is all there is at the moment.
I am using the Arduino for ESPRESSIF on Platform IO using Visual Code Editor on Windows.
The WifiConnect function is called from setup()
Initially I was only calling the WiFi.begin() function to connect which was also connecting with the WiFi but since the connection kept failing I tried ESP8266WiFiMulti as per the sample code.
I even checked that host name resolution also works
IPAddress remote_addr;
WiFi.hostByName("192.168.2.107", remote_addr);
Serial.println(remote_addr);
But connecting to any server always fails. I've tried connecting to servers internal to the network, servers on the internet, servers running http on special ports, normal port 80 etc. But it stubbornly refuses to connect.
#include "Arduino.h"
#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <ESP8266HTTPClient.h>
#include "Ticker.h"
#include <WiFiClient.h>
#include <ESP8266WiFiMulti.h>
ESP8266WiFiMulti WiFiMulti;
void WifiConnect()
{
WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA);
WiFiMulti.addAP("MySSID", "MySECret Password");
Serial.print("Connecting");
while (WiFiMulti.run() != WL_CONNECTED)
{
delay(500);
Serial.print(".");
}
Serial.println();
Serial.print("Connected, IP address: ");
Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());
Serial.println(WiFi.dnsIP());
Serial.println(WiFi.gatewayIP());
Serial1.println(WiFi.localIP());
}
void logToThinkSpeakt(){
// wait for WiFi connection
if ((WiFiMulti.run() == WL_CONNECTED)) {
WiFiClient client;
HTTPClient http;
Serial.print("[HTTP] begin...\n");
if (http.begin(client, "http://jigsaw.w3.org/HTTP/connection.html")) { // HTTP
Serial.print("[HTTP] GET...\n");
// start connection and send HTTP header
int httpCode = http.GET();
// httpCode will be negative on error
if (httpCode > 0) {
// HTTP header has been send and Server response header has been handled
Serial.printf("[HTTP] GET... code: %d\n", httpCode);
// file found at server
if (httpCode == HTTP_CODE_OK || httpCode == HTTP_CODE_MOVED_PERMANENTLY) {
String payload = http.getString();
Serial.println(payload);
}
} else {
Serial.printf("[HTTP] GET... failed, error: %s\n", http.errorToString(httpCode).c_str());
}
http.end();
} else {
Serial.printf("[HTTP} Unable to connect\n");
}
}
}
PLATFORM: Espressif 8266 2.6.2 > NodeMCU 1.0 (ESP-12E Module)
HARDWARE: ESP8266 80MHz, 80KB RAM, 4MB Flash
PACKAGES:
framework-arduinoespressif8266 3.20704.0 (2.7.4)
tool-esptool 1.413.0 (4.13)
tool-esptoolpy 1.20800.0 (2.8.0)
tool-mklittlefs 1.203.200522 (2.3)
tool-mkspiffs 1.200.0 (2.0)
toolchain-xtensa 2.40802.200502 (4.8.2)
LDF: Library Dependency Finder
LDF Modes: Finder ~ chain, Compatibility ~ soft
Found 29 compatible libraries
Scanning dependencies...
Dependency Graph
|-- 1.0
|-- 1.2
| |-- 1.0
|-- 1.0
Building in release mode