In this case, due to such a rapid jump in fees, there was a big difference between fee estimates for different block confirmation targets, and different node implementations used different confirmation targets for the fees.

We have a workaround in place for Alby Hub as we run a blended fee estimator, so this particular force close issue will not happen again.

I don't believe it's a channel size issue, and Alby Hub users have full control over their channel management. You can open channels with whoever you want. If you decide to buy a channel with an LSP, then yes we help users there to make things simple to get started.