diff --git a/heartbeat/http-mon.sh b/heartbeat/http-mon.sh
index 586051c..897cba8 100644
--- a/heartbeat/http-mon.sh
+++ b/heartbeat/http-mon.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,14 @@
 # default options for http clients
 # NB: We _always_ test a local resource, so it should be
 # safe to connect from the local interface.
-WGETOPTS="-O- -q -L --no-proxy --bind-address=127.0.0.1"
+if ip -o -f inet6 a s dev lo | grep -q " ::1/"; then
+	# alternatively, to not be linux specific, ifconfig lo | grep ...
+	# in case the output is actually reliably grep-able accross OSes.
+	bind_address="::1"
+else
+	bind_address="127.0.0.1"
+fi
+WGETOPTS="-O- -q -L --no-proxy --bind-address=$bind_address"
 CURLOPTS="-o - -Ss -L --interface lo"
 
 #