They can change it if the have access to the php.ini file which since they edited they must have access to.
Anyway, good luck with godaddy hosting support

What kind of server are you on VPS or dedicated? and what is the line speed to that.
Try to change the values for these variables as well. And if there isnt any particular reason not to turn alllow_url_fopen back on maybe.
max_execution_time
max_input_time
memory_limit