Ok thanks for the suggestions. Some installations do not have CURL, but most do. I can do a CURL check, then fall back to other way if they do not have CURL.
If anybody still has PHP4 they probably have a compromised server. They need to ask web host to upgrade their account to a server with PHP5.
New Curl version is working on my test server, but I need to adjust a few minor things and have to go out for an hour. I will upload it later.