Web hosts are buggy and not all support cURL. WordPress has a built in API to handle HTTP requests no matter what support the web hosts offer. By using cURL in plugins you’re doing a disservice to yourself and, if the code is shared, to your users. WordPress’ built in HTTP API has been around since version 2.7– about 6.5 years now. To be blunt, you should be making use of it. I’ll go over the basics and how to make both simple and complicated requests with the HTTP API so that you can finally kick cURL to the curb.