It can mean several things:
- The site is having problems and is actively dropping connections (Refused is different from timed out, where no response was received at all)
- An intermediary may have refused your connection, e.g. a Firewall, although if you can access the site via a browser then this is not likely the case
- You are using the wrong port, i.e. did you mean http:// when you typed https:// or vice versa?
- Your browser is accessing the site via a proxy. Check the browsers proxy settings and use them in url.openConnection(Proxy)
telnet is your friend, what happens when you:
telnet thesite 80 [or whatever port you require]
GET /URL HTTP/1.0
Host: thesite