diff --git a/Annex/Init.hs b/Annex/Init.hs
index e095aef61e..0cb41872ca 100644
--- a/Annex/Init.hs
+++ b/Annex/Init.hs
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ module Annex.Init (
 ) where
 
 import Common.Annex
-import Utility.Network
 import qualified Annex
 import qualified Git
 import qualified Git.LsFiles
diff --git a/Assistant/WebApp/Configurators/Local.hs b/Assistant/WebApp/Configurators/Local.hs
index 9373116bde..5dcb920a7d 100644
--- a/Assistant/WebApp/Configurators/Local.hs
+++ b/Assistant/WebApp/Configurators/Local.hs
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ import Utility.DiskFree
 import Utility.Mounts
 #endif
 import Utility.DataUnits
-import Utility.Network
 import Remote (prettyUUID)
 import Annex.UUID
 import Annex.Direct
diff --git a/Assistant/WebApp/Configurators/Pairing.hs b/Assistant/WebApp/Configurators/Pairing.hs
index 3dd10c1012..c364346b49 100644
--- a/Assistant/WebApp/Configurators/Pairing.hs
+++ b/Assistant/WebApp/Configurators/Pairing.hs
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ import Assistant.Ssh
 import Assistant.Alert
 import Assistant.DaemonStatus
 import Utility.Verifiable
-import Utility.Network
 #endif
 #ifdef WITH_XMPP
 import Assistant.XMPP.Client
diff --git a/Common.hs b/Common.hs
index 4d6165ac55..0f3dc71d04 100644
--- a/Common.hs
+++ b/Common.hs
@@ -32,5 +32,6 @@ import Utility.Data as X
 import Utility.Applicative as X
 import Utility.FileSystemEncoding as X
 import Utility.PosixFiles as X
+import Utility.Network as X
 
 import Utility.PartialPrelude as X
diff --git a/Utility/Network.hs b/Utility/Network.hs
index 62523c9e98..015c004d75 100644
--- a/Utility/Network.hs
+++ b/Utility/Network.hs
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
  - Licensed under the GNU GPL version 3 or higher.
  -}
 
+{-# LANGUAGE CPP #-}
+
 module Utility.Network where
 
 import Utility.Process
@@ -12,6 +14,14 @@ import Utility.Exception
 
 import Control.Applicative
 
+-- Old versions of network lacked an Ord for URI
+#if ! MIN_VERSION_network(2,4,0)
+import Network.URI
+
+instance Ord URI where
+	a `compare` b = show a `compare` show b
+#endif
+
 {- Haskell lacks uname(2) bindings, except in the
  - Bindings.Uname addon. Rather than depend on that,
  - use uname -n when available. -}