diff --git a/qa/rpc-tests/httpbasics.py b/qa/rpc-tests/httpbasics.py
index ce62fef46b..cf37976a4e 100755
--- a/qa/rpc-tests/httpbasics.py
+++ b/qa/rpc-tests/httpbasics.py
@@ -36,13 +36,13 @@ class HTTPBasicsTest (BitcoinTestFramework):
         conn.connect()
         conn.request('POST', '/', '{"method": "getbestblockhash"}', headers)
         out1 = conn.getresponse().read()
-        assert('"error":null' in out1)
+        assert(b'"error":null' in out1)
         assert(conn.sock!=None) #according to http/1.1 connection must still be open!
 
         #send 2nd request without closing connection
         conn.request('POST', '/', '{"method": "getchaintips"}', headers)
-        out2 = conn.getresponse().read()
-        assert('"error":null' in out1) #must also response with a correct json-rpc message
+        out1 = conn.getresponse().read()
+        assert(b'"error":null' in out1) #must also response with a correct json-rpc message
         assert(conn.sock!=None) #according to http/1.1 connection must still be open!
         conn.close()
 
@@ -53,13 +53,13 @@ class HTTPBasicsTest (BitcoinTestFramework):
         conn.connect()
         conn.request('POST', '/', '{"method": "getbestblockhash"}', headers)
         out1 = conn.getresponse().read()
-        assert('"error":null' in out1)
+        assert(b'"error":null' in out1)
         assert(conn.sock!=None) #according to http/1.1 connection must still be open!
 
         #send 2nd request without closing connection
         conn.request('POST', '/', '{"method": "getchaintips"}', headers)
-        out2 = conn.getresponse().read()
-        assert('"error":null' in out1) #must also response with a correct json-rpc message
+        out1 = conn.getresponse().read()
+        assert(b'"error":null' in out1) #must also response with a correct json-rpc message
         assert(conn.sock!=None) #according to http/1.1 connection must still be open!
         conn.close()
 
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class HTTPBasicsTest (BitcoinTestFramework):
         conn.connect()
         conn.request('POST', '/', '{"method": "getbestblockhash"}', headers)
         out1 = conn.getresponse().read()
-        assert('"error":null' in out1)
+        assert(b'"error":null' in out1)
         assert(conn.sock==None) #now the connection must be closed after the response
 
         #node1 (2nd node) is running with disabled keep-alive option
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ class HTTPBasicsTest (BitcoinTestFramework):
         conn.connect()
         conn.request('POST', '/', '{"method": "getbestblockhash"}', headers)
         out1 = conn.getresponse().read()
-        assert('"error":null' in out1)
+        assert(b'"error":null' in out1)
 
         #node2 (third node) is running with standard keep-alive parameters which means keep-alive is on
         urlNode2 = urlparse.urlparse(self.nodes[2].url)
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ class HTTPBasicsTest (BitcoinTestFramework):
         conn.connect()
         conn.request('POST', '/', '{"method": "getbestblockhash"}', headers)
         out1 = conn.getresponse().read()
-        assert('"error":null' in out1)
+        assert(b'"error":null' in out1)
         assert(conn.sock!=None) #connection must be closed because bitcoind should use keep-alive by default
 
         # Check excessive request size