Hi and thanks for the replies. Using the Permissions->"Public" is a piece of the puzzle, but not the complete solution. I called Wolfram and yes a Mathematica License does not really include Cloud access (you get a very modest 250 cloud credits to try out). In reality you need PremierServicePlus, Mathematica Online, or Wolfram Development platform to freely distribute non credentialed urls to others.
Additional notes are that Mathematica does not allow you to purchase cloud credits (without service plans). Mathematica online and certain tiers of Wolfram development platform do (beyond the monthly allocation). I am still looking for any speed tips as the cloud seems to have large latency.