The fsockopen function will work for outbound connection to any URL on port 80 (HTTP) or 443 (HTTPS). If fsockopen is attempting to use another port, it will not work until we have added that port to the firewall.

By default, your account is on a shared IP address. We have a firewall for our shared IP customers which prohibits opening additional ports. If you need to connect using a port number other than 80 or 443, this will require you Purchase a Dedicated IP for your Bluehost account.

You may purchase a Dedicated IP address from within your cPanel by clicking on the Dedicated IP tab at the top of the page.

Note: While we can generally open any port over 1024, ports 1024 and lower are restricted and cannot be opened.