I'm really beginning to think my host is just retarded. I sent another email regarding the issue, also asking whether cURL is activated and functional, and this is what I got back:

Dear Raymond Fong,

Did you receive the email from Megan? The firewall is blocking your attempts to connect to a remote host from the server.

In order to Open outbound connection to remote site you need:
1. To provide me your registration number and domain name
2. To specify the local script filename and location that is running on our server
3. To provide me the remote hostname or IP address and port number which needs to be opened
4. To tell me what is the exact and detailed purpose for this connection

Thank you,
Josh Kalis
Support Technician
Aplus.Net ( www.aplus.net ) "Everything for your online business"
Now does anything he is saying make sense in regards to my problem?