diff --git a/pyrogram/connection/transport/tcp/tcp_abridged_o.py b/pyrogram/connection/transport/tcp/tcp_abridged_o.py
index c5a9f65f..6f57ab11 100644
--- a/pyrogram/connection/transport/tcp/tcp_abridged_o.py
+++ b/pyrogram/connection/transport/tcp/tcp_abridged_o.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ class TCPAbridgedO(TCP):
         while True:
             nonce = bytearray(os.urandom(64))
 
-            if nonce[0] != b"\xef" and nonce[:4] not in self.RESERVED and nonce[4:8] != b"\x00" * 4:
+            if bytes([nonce[0]]) != b"\xef" and nonce[:4] not in self.RESERVED and nonce[4:8] != b"\x00" * 4:
                 nonce[56] = nonce[57] = nonce[58] = nonce[59] = 0xef
                 break
 
diff --git a/pyrogram/connection/transport/tcp/tcp_intermediate_o.py b/pyrogram/connection/transport/tcp/tcp_intermediate_o.py
index 20eca3d4..48b2d445 100644
--- a/pyrogram/connection/transport/tcp/tcp_intermediate_o.py
+++ b/pyrogram/connection/transport/tcp/tcp_intermediate_o.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ class TCPIntermediateO(TCP):
         while True:
             nonce = bytearray(os.urandom(64))
 
-            if nonce[0] != b"\xef" and nonce[:4] not in self.RESERVED and nonce[4:8] != b"\x00" * 4:
+            if bytes([nonce[0]]) != b"\xef" and nonce[:4] not in self.RESERVED and nonce[4:8] != b"\x00" * 4:
                 nonce[56] = nonce[57] = nonce[58] = nonce[59] = 0xee
                 break