diff --git a/src/core/mqtt.cpp b/src/core/mqtt.cpp
index a61d1bceb..e593794e1 100644
--- a/src/core/mqtt.cpp
+++ b/src/core/mqtt.cpp
@@ -504,7 +504,7 @@ void Mqtt::on_disconnect(espMqttClientTypes::DisconnectReason reason) {
 // MQTT on_connect - when an MQTT connect is established
 void Mqtt::on_connect() {
     if (connecting_) {
-        return; // prevent duplicated connections and unsuccessful tries
+        return; // prevent duplicated connections
     }
 
     LOG_INFO("MQTT connected");
diff --git a/src/web/WebStatusService.cpp b/src/web/WebStatusService.cpp
index 8c837b7d3..16f2e45e7 100644
--- a/src/web/WebStatusService.cpp
+++ b/src/web/WebStatusService.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include <WiFiClient.h>
 #include <ESP_SSLClient.h>
 #endif
+#include "shuntingYard.h"
 
 namespace emsesp {
 
@@ -421,91 +422,14 @@ bool WebStatusService::refresh_versions_cache() {
 #ifdef EMSESP_STANDALONE
     return false;
 #else
-    // detect scheme from VERSIONS_URL (case-insensitive). One code path for HTTP and HTTPS,
-    // using ESP_SSLClient as a plain TCP passthrough when SSL is disabled.
-    String url   = VERSIONS_URL;
-    String lower = url;
-    lower.toLowerCase();
-    const bool is_https = lower.startsWith("https://");
-    if (!is_https && !lower.startsWith("http://")) {
-#if defined(EMSESP_DEBUG)
-        EMSESP::logger().debug("versions.json: unsupported scheme");
-#endif
-        return false;
-    }
-    const int scheme_len = is_https ? 8 : 7;
-
-    WiFiClient    basic_client;
-    ESP_SSLClient ssl_client;
-    if (is_https) {
-        ssl_client.setInsecure();
-        ssl_client.setBufferSizes(16384, 1024); // versions.json fits easily but TLS records may be full-size
-        ssl_client.setSessionTimeout(120);
-    }
-    basic_client.setTimeout(5000);
-    ssl_client.setTimeout(5);
-    ssl_client.setClient(&basic_client, is_https);
-
-    // split into host and path
-    String rest = url.substring(scheme_len);
-    String host;
-    String path;
-    int    s = rest.indexOf('/');
-    if (s < 0) {
-        host = rest;
-        path = "/";
-    } else {
-        host = rest.substring(0, s);
-        path = rest.substring(s);
-    }
-
-    if (!ssl_client.connect(host.c_str(), is_https ? 443 : 80)) {
-#if defined(EMSESP_DEBUG)
-        EMSESP::logger().debug("versions.json: connection failed");
-#endif
-        return false;
-    }
-
-    // minimal HTTP/1.0 GET so we don't have to handle chunked encoding
-    ssl_client.print("GET ");
-    ssl_client.print(path);
-    ssl_client.println(" HTTP/1.0");
-    ssl_client.print("Host: ");
-    ssl_client.println(host);
-    ssl_client.println("User-Agent: EMS-ESP");
-    ssl_client.println("Connection: close");
-    ssl_client.print("\r\n");
-
-    // wait for the first byte. The 5 seconds is GitHub's SLO
-    uint32_t ms = millis();
-    while (ssl_client.connected() && !ssl_client.available() && millis() - ms < 5000) {
-        delay(1);
-    }
-
-    // parse status line
-    String status_line = ssl_client.readStringUntil('\n');
-    int    sp          = status_line.indexOf(' ');
-    int    http_code   = (sp >= 0) ? status_line.substring(sp + 1, sp + 4).toInt() : 0;
+    std::string  result;
+    JsonDocument doc;
+    auto         http_code = http_request(VERSIONS_URL, "GET", "", doc.as<JsonObjectConst>(), result);
     if (http_code != 200) {
-        ssl_client.stop();
-#if defined(EMSESP_DEBUG)
-        EMSESP::logger().debug("versions.json: HTTP error code %d", http_code);
-#endif
+        EMSESP::logger().warning("versions.json: HTTP error code %d", http_code);
         return false;
     }
-
-    // skip headers
-    while (ssl_client.connected() || ssl_client.available()) {
-        String line = ssl_client.readStringUntil('\n');
-        line.trim();
-        if (line.isEmpty()) {
-            break;
-        }
-    }
-
-    JsonDocument         doc(PSRAM_DOC);
-    DeserializationError err = deserializeJson(doc, ssl_client);
-    ssl_client.stop();
+    DeserializationError err = deserializeJson(doc, result);
     if (err) {
 #if defined(EMSESP_DEBUG)
         EMSESP::logger().debug("versions.json: parse error");