diff --git a/thirdparty/vschannel/vschannel.c b/thirdparty/vschannel/vschannel.c
index 4cc5f02e56..3a484c7a83 100644
--- a/thirdparty/vschannel/vschannel.c
+++ b/thirdparty/vschannel/vschannel.c
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ void vschannel_init() {
 	tls_ctx.creds_initialized = TRUE;
 }
 
-INT request(CHAR *host, CHAR *req, CHAR *out)
+INT request(INT iport, CHAR *host, CHAR *req, CHAR *out)
 {
 	SecBuffer  ExtraData;
 	SECURITY_STATUS Status;
@@ -147,6 +147,8 @@ INT request(CHAR *host, CHAR *req, CHAR *out)
 
 	protocol = SP_PROT_TLS1_2_CLIENT;
 
+	port_number = iport;
+
 	// Connect to server.
 	if(connect_to_server(host, port_number)) {
 		printf("Error connecting to server\n");
diff --git a/thirdparty/vschannel/vschannel.h b/thirdparty/vschannel/vschannel.h
index 782d40c37a..b990f86615 100644
--- a/thirdparty/vschannel/vschannel.h
+++ b/thirdparty/vschannel/vschannel.h
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ static void vschannel_init();
 
 static void vschannel_cleanup();
 
-static INT request(CHAR *host, CHAR *req, CHAR *out);
+static INT request(INT iport, CHAR *host, CHAR *req, CHAR *out);
 
 static SECURITY_STATUS https_make_request(
 	CHAR *req, CHAR *out, int *length);
diff --git a/vlib/http/backend_nix.v b/vlib/http/backend_nix.v
index 706fa28106..4424632b4b 100644
--- a/vlib/http/backend_nix.v
+++ b/vlib/http/backend_nix.v
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ fn init_module() {
 	//C.OPENSSL_config(0) 
 }
 
-fn ssl_do(method, host_name, path string) Response { 
+fn ssl_do(port int, method, host_name, path string) Response {
 	//ssl_method := C.SSLv23_method() 
 	ssl_method := C.TLSv1_2_method() 
 	if isnil(method) { 
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ fn ssl_do(method, host_name, path string) Response {
 	web := C.BIO_new_ssl_connect(ctx) 
 	if isnil(ctx) { 
 	} 
-	addr := host_name + ':443' 
+	addr := host_name + ':' + port.str()
 	res = C.BIO_set_conn_hostname(web, addr.str) 
 	if res != 1 {
 	} 
diff --git a/vlib/http/backend_win.v b/vlib/http/backend_win.v
index 970b181ef9..0ec9f6fb9e 100644
--- a/vlib/http/backend_win.v
+++ b/vlib/http/backend_win.v
@@ -16,15 +16,15 @@ import net.urllib
 
 fn init_module() {}
 
-fn ssl_do(method, host_name, path string) Response { 
+fn ssl_do(port int, method, host_name, path string) Response {
 	C.vschannel_init()
 	// TODO: joe-c
 	// dynamically increase in vschannel.c if needed
 	mut buff := malloc(44000)
-	
+	addr := host_name
 	req := build_request_headers('', method, host_name, path)
-	length := int(C.request(host_name.str, req.str, buff))
-	
+	length := int(C.request(port, addr.str, req.str, buff))
+
 	C.vschannel_cleanup()
 	return parse_response(string(buff, length))
 }
diff --git a/vlib/http/http.v b/vlib/http/http.v
index 5e1f29f0b1..1c22c409c5 100644
--- a/vlib/http/http.v
+++ b/vlib/http/http.v
@@ -103,38 +103,45 @@ pub fn (req &Request) do() ?Response {
 	for key, val in req.headers {
 		//h := '$key: $val'
 	}
-	url := urllib.parse(req.url) or {
-		return error('http.request.do: invalid URL $req.url')
-		// return Response{} //error('ff')}
-	}
-	is_ssl := url.scheme == 'https'
-	if !is_ssl {
-		return error('non https requests are not supported right now') 
-	}
-
-	// first request
-	mut p := url.path.trim_left('/')
-	mut u := if url.query().size > 0 { '/$p?${url.query().encode()}' } else { '/$p' }
-	mut resp := ssl_do(req.typ, url.hostname(), u)
-	// follow any redirects
+	url := urllib.parse(req.url) or { return error('http.request.do: invalid URL $req.url') }
+	mut rurl := url
+	mut resp := Response{}
 	mut no_redirects := 0
-	for resp.status_code in [301, 302, 303, 307, 308] {
-		if no_redirects == max_redirects {
-			return error('http.request.do: maximum number of redirects reached ($max_redirects)')
-		}
-		h_loc := resp.headers['Location']
-		r_url := urllib.parse(h_loc) or { 
-			return error('http.request.do: cannot follow redirect, location header has invalid url $h_loc')
-		}
-		p = r_url.path.trim_left('/')
-		u = if r_url.query().size > 0 { '/$p?${r_url.query().encode()}' } else { '/$p' }
-		resp = ssl_do(req.typ, r_url.hostname(), u)
+	for {
+		if no_redirects == max_redirects { return error('http.request.do: maximum number of redirects reached ($max_redirects)') }
+		qresp := method_and_url_to_response( req.typ, rurl ) or {	return error(err) }
+		resp = qresp
+		if ! (resp.status_code in [301, 302, 303, 307, 308]) { break }
+		// follow any redirects
+		redirect_url := resp.headers['Location']
+		qrurl := urllib.parse( redirect_url ) or { return error('http.request.do: invalid URL in redirect $redirect_url') }
+		rurl = qrurl
 		no_redirects++
 	}
-
 	return resp
 }
 
+fn method_and_url_to_response(method string, url net_dot_urllib.URL) ?Response {
+  host_name := url.hostname()
+  scheme := url.scheme
+	mut p := url.path.trim_left('/')
+	mut path := if url.query().size > 0 { '/$p?${url.query().encode()}' } else { '/$p' }
+	mut nport := url.port().int()
+	if nport == 0 {
+		if scheme == 'http'  { nport = 80  }
+		if scheme == 'https' { nport = 443 }
+	}
+	//println('fetch $method, $scheme, $host_name, $nport, $path ')
+	if scheme == 'https' {
+		//println('ssl_do( $nport, $method, $host_name, $path )')
+		return ssl_do( nport, method, host_name, path )
+	} else if scheme == 'http' {
+		//println('http_do( $nport, $method, $host_name, $path )')
+		return http_do( nport, method, host_name, path )
+	}
+	return error('http.request.do: unsupported scheme: $scheme')
+}
+
 fn parse_response(resp string) Response {
 	mut headers := map[string]string
 	first_header := resp.all_before('\n') 
diff --git a/vlib/http/http_client.v b/vlib/http/http_client.v
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9e3d9106b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vlib/http/http_client.v
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+module http
+
+import net
+import strings
+
+fn http_do(port int, method, host_name, path string) ?Response {
+	bufsize := 512
+	rbuffer := [512]byte
+	mut sb := strings.new_builder(100)
+	s := build_request_headers('', method, host_name, path)
+	
+	client := net.dial( host_name, port) or { return error(err) }
+	client.send( s.str, s.len )
+	for {
+		readbytes := client.crecv( rbuffer, bufsize )
+		if readbytes  < 0 { return error('http_do error reading response. readbytes: $readbytes') }
+		if readbytes == 0 { break }
+		sb.write( tos(rbuffer, readbytes) )
+	}
+	client.close()	
+	return parse_response(sb.str())
+}
diff --git a/vlib/http/http_test.v b/vlib/http/http_test.v
index efd5ebc955..68e3b81b54 100644
--- a/vlib/http/http_test.v
+++ b/vlib/http/http_test.v
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import net.urllib 
-//import http 
+import http 
 
 fn test_escape_unescape() {
 /* 
@@ -19,3 +19,32 @@ fn test_http_get() {
 */ 
 } 
 
+
+fn test_http_get_from_vlang_utc_now() {
+	urls := ['http://vlang.io/utc_now', 'https://vlang.io/utc_now']
+	for url in urls {
+		println('Test getting current time from $url by http.get')
+		res := http.get(url) or { panic(err) }
+		assert 200 == res.status_code
+		assert res.text.len > 0
+		assert res.text.int() > 1566403696
+		println('Current time is: ${res.text.int()}')
+	}
+}
+
+fn test_public_servers() {
+	urls := [ 
+		'http://github.com/robots.txt',
+		'http://google.com/robots.txt',
+		'http://yahoo.com/robots.txt', 
+		'https://github.com/robots.txt',
+		'https://google.com/robots.txt',
+		'https://yahoo.com/robots.txt', 
+	]
+	for url in urls {
+		println('Testing http.get on public url: $url ')
+		res :=  http.get( url ) or { panic(err) }
+		assert 200 == res.status_code
+		assert res.text.len > 0
+	}
+}
diff --git a/vlib/net/socket.v b/vlib/net/socket.v
index ed469ecc19..ecc6bd87f8 100644
--- a/vlib/net/socket.v
+++ b/vlib/net/socket.v
@@ -231,6 +231,14 @@ pub fn (s Socket) recv(bufsize int) byteptr {
 	return buf
 }
 
+// TODO: remove cread/2 and crecv/2 when the Go net interface is done
+pub fn (s Socket) cread( buffer byteptr, buffersize int ) int {
+	return int( C.read(s.sockfd, buffer, buffersize) )
+}
+pub fn (s Socket) crecv( buffer byteptr, buffersize int ) int {
+	return int( C.recv(s.sockfd, buffer, buffersize, 0) )
+}
+
 // shutdown and close socket
 pub fn (s Socket) close() ?int {
 	mut shutdown_res := 0