Thanks for the replies...

it was the webhost blocking outgoing connections, I knew it! I'm so annoyed.
Looks like I was talking to a junior member of support who was guessing all sorts.
An expert took over and told me it was a server problem blocking outgoing connections (what a surprise)which is being resolved.

For info, the error message I got was

500 Can't connect to somedomain:80 (connect: No route to host)

so imagine how I felt when the junior told me I had my outgoing connection blocked due to terms and conditions abuse (incorrect)!!
Anyway, I'm talking to someone who knows what they're doing now...