diff --git a/app/backend/__tests__/network.test.js b/app/backend/__tests__/network.test.js
index cd924f287..6cde22b8d 100644
--- a/app/backend/__tests__/network.test.js
+++ b/app/backend/__tests__/network.test.js
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ describe('buildRequestConfig()', () => {
     expect(config).toEqual({
       body: '',
       followAllRedirects: true,
+      forever: true,
       gzip: true,
       headers: {host: ''},
       maxRedirects: 20,
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ describe('buildRequestConfig()', () => {
       parameters: [{name: 'foo bar', value: 'hello&world'}],
       method: 'POST',
       body: 'foo=bar',
-      url: 'http://foo.com:3332/★/foo%20bar?bar=baz',
+      url: 'http://foo.com:3332/★/hi@gmail.com/foo%20bar?bar=baz',
       authentication: {
         username: 'user',
         password: 'pass'
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ describe('buildRequestConfig()', () => {
     expect(config).toEqual({
       body: 'foo=bar',
       followAllRedirects: true,
+      forever: true,
       gzip: true,
       headers: {
         'Content-Type': 'application/json',
@@ -61,7 +63,8 @@ describe('buildRequestConfig()', () => {
       rejectUnauthorized: true,
       time: true,
       timeout: 0,
-      url: 'http://foo.com:3332/%E2%98%85/foo%20bar?bar=baz&foo%20bar=hello%26world'
+      url: 'http://foo.com:3332/%E2%98%85/hi%40gmail.com/' +
+      'foo%20bar?bar=baz&foo%20bar=hello%26world'
     })
   })
 });
diff --git a/app/backend/__tests__/util.test.js b/app/backend/__tests__/util.test.js
index 485f11d20..565253e16 100644
--- a/app/backend/__tests__/util.test.js
+++ b/app/backend/__tests__/util.test.js
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ describe('prepareUrlForSending()', () => {
 
   it('encodes pathname mixed encoding', () => {
     const url = util.prepareUrlForSending('https://google.com/foo bar baz%20qux/100%/foo%25');
-    expect(url).toBe('https://google.com/foo%20bar%20baz%20qux/100%25/foo%2525');
+    expect(url).toBe('https://google.com/foo%20bar%20baz%20qux/100%25/foo%25');
   });
 
   it('leaves already encoded pathname', () => {
diff --git a/app/backend/util.js b/app/backend/util.js
index 74861239a..f49eaa813 100644
--- a/app/backend/util.js
+++ b/app/backend/util.js
@@ -60,30 +60,30 @@ export function flexibleEncodeComponent (str) {
   // Sometimes spaces screw things up because of url.parse
   str = str.replace(/%20/g, ' ');
 
-  let decodedPathname;
+  let decoded;
   try {
-    decodedPathname = decodeURIComponent(str);
+    decoded = decodeURIComponent(str);
   } catch (e) {
     // Malformed (probably not encoded) so assume it's decoded already
-    decodedPathname = str;
+    decoded = str;
   }
 
-  return encodeURIComponent(decodedPathname);
+  return encodeURIComponent(decoded);
 }
 
 export function flexibleEncode (str) {
   // Sometimes spaces screw things up because of url.parse
   str = str.replace(/%20/g, ' ');
 
-  let decodedPathname;
+  let decoded;
   try {
-    decodedPathname = decodeURI(str);
+    decoded = decodeURI(str);
   } catch (e) {
     // Malformed (probably not encoded) so assume it's decoded already
-    decodedPathname = str;
+    decoded = str;
   }
 
-  return encodeURI(decodedPathname);
+  return encodeURI(decoded);
 }
 
 export function prepareUrlForSending (url) {
@@ -96,9 +96,10 @@ export function prepareUrlForSending (url) {
   // 1. Pathname //
   // ~~~~~~~~~~~ //
 
-  parsedUrl.pathname = flexibleEncode(
-    parsedUrl.pathname || ''
-  );
+  if (parsedUrl.pathname) {
+    const segments = parsedUrl.pathname.split('/');
+    parsedUrl.pathname = segments.map(flexibleEncodeComponent).join('/');
+  }
 
   // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ //
   // 2. Querystring //