Is persistent HTTP with HTTP/1.0 possible?

Question

I am using a 3G UMTS connection. I am trying to implement HTTP tunneling to a server of mine which listens on port 80 (this is done in order to bypass client's firewall). The problem is that the ISP's proxy server supports HTTP/1.0 which doesn't support persistent HTTP connection.

As a result, after one http request/response iteration between my client/server the ISP's proxy tears down the underlying TCP connection.

my client receives the following HTTP response:
HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Content-Length: yyy
X-Cache: MISS from ipmr5
Proxy-Connection: close
my data appear here

while my server actually sends:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Content-Length: yyy
my data appear here

Is there any workaround?

Answer 1

HTTP 1.0 proxies (which it seems your ISP uses) shouldn't be used in connection with Connection: Keep-Alive for persistent connections. The reasons for this are outlined in RFC-2068 (section 19.7.1). The short version, basically, is that your server is sending an invalid header for the kind of proxy you are using.

Answer 2

You could always use HTTPS. You will lose any benefits offered by the proxies (such as caching), but all of your HTTP headers will arrive at the server exactly as you sent them.