diff --git a/pkg/bee/api/api.go b/pkg/bee/api/api.go
index f79c377e4..6e488dc12 100644
--- a/pkg/bee/api/api.go
+++ b/pkg/bee/api/api.go
@@ -15,13 +15,14 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	apiVersion               = "v1"
-	contentType              = "application/json; charset=utf-8"
-	postageStampBatchHeader  = "Swarm-Postage-Batch-Id"
-	deferredUploadHeader     = "Swarm-Deferred-Upload"
-	swarmPinHeader           = "Swarm-Pin"
-	swarmTagHeader           = "Swarm-Tag"
-	swarmCacheDownloadHeader = "Swarm-Cache"
+	apiVersion                  = "v1"
+	contentType                 = "application/json; charset=utf-8"
+	postageStampBatchHeader     = "Swarm-Postage-Batch-Id"
+	deferredUploadHeader        = "Swarm-Deferred-Upload"
+	swarmPinHeader              = "Swarm-Pin"
+	swarmTagHeader              = "Swarm-Tag"
+	swarmCacheDownloadHeader    = "Swarm-Cache"
+	swarmRedundancyFallbackMode = "Swarm-Redundancy-Fallback-Mode"
 )
 
 var userAgent = "beekeeper/" + beekeeper.Version
@@ -196,6 +197,9 @@ func (c *Client) requestData(ctx context.Context, method, path string, body io.R
 	if opts != nil && opts.Cache != nil {
 		req.Header.Set(swarmCacheDownloadHeader, strconv.FormatBool(*opts.Cache))
 	}
+	if opts != nil && opts.RedundancyFallbackMode != nil {
+		req.Header.Set(swarmRedundancyFallbackMode, strconv.FormatBool(*opts.RedundancyFallbackMode))
+	}
 
 	r, err := c.httpClient.Do(req)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -317,5 +321,6 @@ type UploadOptions struct {
 }
 
 type DownloadOptions struct {
-	Cache *bool
+	Cache                  *bool
+	RedundancyFallbackMode *bool
 }
diff --git a/pkg/bee/api/bytes.go b/pkg/bee/api/bytes.go
index f4ea0c8ee..7593fbeef 100644
--- a/pkg/bee/api/bytes.go
+++ b/pkg/bee/api/bytes.go
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ import (
 type BytesService service
 
 // Download downloads data from the node
-func (b *BytesService) Download(ctx context.Context, a swarm.Address) (resp io.ReadCloser, err error) {
-	return b.client.requestData(ctx, http.MethodGet, "/"+apiVersion+"/bytes/"+a.String(), nil, nil)
+func (b *BytesService) Download(ctx context.Context, a swarm.Address, opts *DownloadOptions) (resp io.ReadCloser, err error) {
+	return b.client.requestData(ctx, http.MethodGet, "/"+apiVersion+"/bytes/"+a.String(), nil, opts)
 }
 
 // BytesUploadResponse represents Upload's response
diff --git a/pkg/bee/client.go b/pkg/bee/client.go
index 89f847bab..b696c6ed5 100644
--- a/pkg/bee/client.go
+++ b/pkg/bee/client.go
@@ -183,8 +183,8 @@ func (c *Client) Balances(ctx context.Context) (resp Balances, err error) {
 }
 
 // DownloadBytes downloads chunk from the node
-func (c *Client) DownloadBytes(ctx context.Context, a swarm.Address) (data []byte, err error) {
-	r, err := c.api.Bytes.Download(ctx, a)
+func (c *Client) DownloadBytes(ctx context.Context, a swarm.Address, opts *api.DownloadOptions) (data []byte, err error) {
+	r, err := c.api.Bytes.Download(ctx, a, opts)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("download chunk %s: %w", a, err)
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/check/redundancy/redundancy.go b/pkg/check/redundancy/redundancy.go
index 489a709ae..550c5c90f 100644
--- a/pkg/check/redundancy/redundancy.go
+++ b/pkg/check/redundancy/redundancy.go
@@ -87,7 +87,8 @@ func (c *Check) Run(ctx context.Context, cluster orchestration.Cluster, o interf
 			return fmt.Errorf("upload chunks: %w", err)
 		}
 		c.logger.Infof("upload completed. Downloading %s", root.String())
-		d, err := downloadClient.DownloadBytes(ctx, root)
+		fallbackMode := true
+		d, err := downloadClient.DownloadBytes(ctx, root, &api.DownloadOptions{RedundancyFallbackMode: &fallbackMode})
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("download bytes: %w", err)
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/check/smoke/smoke.go b/pkg/check/smoke/smoke.go
index f0b03c4c7..8d90b8efc 100644
--- a/pkg/check/smoke/smoke.go
+++ b/pkg/check/smoke/smoke.go
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ func (t *test) download(ctx context.Context, cName string, addr swarm.Address) (
 	client := t.clients[cName]
 	t.logger.Infof("node %s: downloading address %s", cName, addr)
 	start := time.Now()
-	data, err := client.DownloadBytes(ctx, addr)
+	data, err := client.DownloadBytes(ctx, addr, nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, 0, fmt.Errorf("download from node %s: %w", cName, err)
 	}