$ telnet www.uh.edu 80
Trying 123.45.67.89...
Connected to www.uh.edu.
Escape character is '^]'.
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: www.uh.edu

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
...


or when you have to go through a proxy server

$ telnet myproxy.mycomp.com 8080
Trying 123.45.67.89...
Connected to myproxy.mycomp.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
GET http://www.uh.edu HTTP/1.0

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 17:08:56 GMT