To follow up on my post from the 19th... since installing the 17.12.0.4 drivers, I have not experienced any connectivity issues.
This is compared with the latest available Intel.com drivers, where I experience no connection whatsoever upon waking 80% of the time, "Limited Access" on waking a further 10% of the time, and other frequent issues once or twice a day with the connection dying or becoming horribly slow after anywhere from 30-120 minutes.
Basically... 17.12.0.4 is working. So why did I have to download an illegitimate package to actually get them?