diff --git a/src/libcalamares/network/Manager.cpp b/src/libcalamares/network/Manager.cpp
index 66721c812..857a93b69 100644
--- a/src/libcalamares/network/Manager.cpp
+++ b/src/libcalamares/network/Manager.cpp
@@ -27,6 +27,23 @@ namespace CalamaresUtils
 {
 namespace Network
 {
+void
+RequestOptions::applyToRequest( QNetworkRequest* request ) const
+{
+    if ( m_flags & Flag::FollowRedirect )
+    {
+        // Follows all redirects except unsafe ones (https to http).
+        request->setAttribute( QNetworkRequest::FollowRedirectsAttribute, true );
+    }
+
+    if ( m_flags & Flag::FakeUserAgent )
+    {
+        // Not everybody likes the default User Agent used by this class (looking at you,
+        // sourceforge.net), so let's set a more descriptive one.
+        request->setRawHeader( "User-Agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Calamares)" );
+    }
+}
+
 struct Manager::Private
 {
     std::unique_ptr< QNetworkAccessManager > m_nam;
@@ -82,16 +99,17 @@ Manager::setCheckHasInternetUrl( const QUrl& url )
 }
 
 bool
-Manager::synchronousPing( const QUrl& url )
+Manager::synchronousPing( const QUrl& url, const RequestOptions& options )
 {
     if ( !url.isValid() )
     {
         return false;
     }
 
-    QNetworkRequest req = QNetworkRequest( url );
-    QNetworkReply* reply = d->m_nam->get( req );
+    QNetworkRequest request = QNetworkRequest( url );
+    QNetworkReply* reply = d->m_nam->get( request );
     QEventLoop loop;
+    options.applyToRequest( &request );
     connect( reply, &QNetworkReply::finished, &loop, &QEventLoop::quit );
     loop.exec();
     reply->deleteLater();
@@ -99,7 +117,7 @@ Manager::synchronousPing( const QUrl& url )
 }
 
 QByteArray
-Manager::synchronousGet( const QUrl& url )
+Manager::synchronousGet( const QUrl& url, const RequestOptions& options )
 {
     if ( !url.isValid() )
     {
@@ -109,6 +127,7 @@ Manager::synchronousGet( const QUrl& url )
     QNetworkRequest request( url );
     QNetworkReply* reply = d->m_nam->get( request );
     QEventLoop loop;
+    options.applyToRequest( &request );
     connect( reply, &QNetworkReply::finished, &loop, &QEventLoop::quit );
     loop.exec();
     reply->deleteLater();
diff --git a/src/libcalamares/network/Manager.h b/src/libcalamares/network/Manager.h
index 1c965d27e..7f12925ef 100644
--- a/src/libcalamares/network/Manager.h
+++ b/src/libcalamares/network/Manager.h
@@ -25,12 +25,46 @@
 #include <QObject>
 #include <QUrl>
 
+#include <chrono>
 #include <memory>
 
+class QNetworkRequest;
+
 namespace CalamaresUtils
 {
 namespace Network
 {
+class DLLEXPORT RequestOptions
+{
+public:
+    enum Flag
+    {
+        FollowRedirect = 0x1,
+        FakeUserAgent = 0x100
+    };
+    Q_DECLARE_FLAGS( Flags, Flag )
+
+    RequestOptions()
+        : m_flags( 0 )
+        , m_timeout( -1 )
+    {
+    }
+
+    RequestOptions( Flags f, std::chrono::milliseconds timeout = std::chrono::milliseconds( -1 ) )
+        : m_flags( f )
+        , m_timeout( timeout )
+    {
+    }
+
+    void applyToRequest( QNetworkRequest* ) const;
+
+private:
+    Flags m_flags;
+    std::chrono::milliseconds m_timeout;
+};
+
+Q_DECLARE_OPERATORS_FOR_FLAGS( RequestOptions::Flags );
+
 class DLLEXPORT Manager : QObject
 {
     Q_OBJECT
@@ -51,14 +85,14 @@ public:
      * Returns @c true if it does; @c false means no data, typically
      * because of an error or no network access.
      */
-    bool synchronousPing( const QUrl& url );
+    bool synchronousPing( const QUrl& url, const RequestOptions& options = RequestOptions() );
 
     /** @brief Downloads the data from a given @p url
      *
      * Returns the data as a QByteArray, or an empty
      * array if any error occurred.
      */
-    QByteArray synchronousGet( const QUrl& url );
+    QByteArray synchronousGet( const QUrl& url, const RequestOptions& options = RequestOptions() );
 
     /// @brief Set the URL which is used for the general "is there internet" check.
     void setCheckHasInternetUrl( const QUrl& url );