diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 9433542fe..fb12b151d 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -16,10 +16,3 @@ end
 platforms :jruby do
   gem 'jruby-openssl'
 end
-
-if (RUBY_VERSION > '1.8.7' && (defined?(RUBY_ENGINE) && RUBY_ENGINE == "ruby")) ||
-  (defined?(RUBY_ENGINE) && RUBY_ENGINE == "jruby")
-  gem 'addressable', '>= 2.3.6'
-else
-  gem 'addressable', '< 2.4.0'
-end
diff --git a/spec/acceptance/shared/allowing_and_disabling_net_connect.rb b/spec/acceptance/shared/allowing_and_disabling_net_connect.rb
index b049281bf..bba21fbd6 100644
--- a/spec/acceptance/shared/allowing_and_disabling_net_connect.rb
+++ b/spec/acceptance/shared/allowing_and_disabling_net_connect.rb
@@ -11,8 +11,17 @@
 
       it "should make a real https request if request is not stubbed" do
         unless http_library == :httpclient
-          expect(http_request(:get, "https://www.google.com/").
-            body).to match(/.*google.*/)
+          result = http_request(:get, "https://www.google.com/").body
+          if result.respond_to? :encode
+            result = result.encode(
+              'UTF-8',
+              'binary',
+              :invalid => :replace,
+              :undef   => :replace,
+              :replace => ''
+            )
+          end
+          expect(result).to match(/.*google.*/)
         end
       end
 
diff --git a/webmock.gemspec b/webmock.gemspec
index 5af0df448..7cda74e63 100644
--- a/webmock.gemspec
+++ b/webmock.gemspec
@@ -15,11 +15,13 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
 
   s.rubyforge_project = 'webmock'
 
+  patron_version      = (RUBY_VERSION <= '1.8.7') ? '0.4.18'   : '>= 0.4.18'
+  addressable_version = (RUBY_VERSION) > '1.8.7'  ? '>= 2.3.6' : '< 2.4.0'
+
+  s.add_dependency 'addressable', addressable_version
   s.add_dependency 'crack', '>=0.3.2'
   s.add_dependency 'hashdiff'
 
-  patron_version = (RUBY_VERSION <= '1.8.7') ? '0.4.18' : '>= 0.4.18'
-
   s.add_development_dependency 'rspec',           '>= 3.1.0'
   s.add_development_dependency 'httpclient',      '>= 2.2.4'
   s.add_development_dependency('patron',          patron_version) unless RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /java/