diff --git a/lib/request/basic.py b/lib/request/basic.py
index 000e36fdf..ebc5691c6 100644
--- a/lib/request/basic.py
+++ b/lib/request/basic.py
@@ -133,12 +133,8 @@ def decodePage(page, contentEncoding, contentType):
 
         if charset:
             kb.pageEncoding = charset
-            page = getUnicode(page)
 
-    if isinstance(page, str):
-        page = getUnicode(page)
-
-    return page
+    return getUnicode(page)
 
 def processResponse(page, responseHeaders):
     page = getUnicode(page)