Index: janode.module
===================================================================
--- janode.module       (revision 44)
+++ janode.module       (working copy)
@@ -411,11 +411,29 @@
   if (isset($url_parts['query']) && strlen($url_parts['query']) > 0) {
     $full_url .= "?" . drupal_urlencode($url_parts['query']);
   }
-
+
   // currently only support http
   if ($url_parts['scheme'] != 'http') {
     $status = _JANODE_NOT_HTTP;
   }
+  //Use curl if available. It seems to be more reliable than fopen
+  elseif(function_exists('curl_exec'))
+        {
+               $ch = curl_init();
+               curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $full_url);
+               curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
+               $output = curl_exec($ch);
+               $response_code = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
+
+               if ($response_code == '404') {
+                 $status = _JANODE_FILE_OPEN_FAILURE;
+               }
+               elseif($output) {
+                 $status = 0; //url was found
+               }
+               else {$status = _JANODE_FILE_OPEN_FAILURE;}
+
+        }
   else {
     if(!function_exists('stream_get_meta_data')) { // needed next
       $status = _JANODE_NO_MATA_DATA;