diff --git a/Lib/ftplib.py b/Lib/ftplib.py
index 9dce22b35b6..22aff51acba 100644
--- a/Lib/ftplib.py
+++ b/Lib/ftplib.py
@@ -76,9 +76,15 @@ class FTP:
 
     '''An FTP client class.
 
-    To create a connection, call the class using these argument:
-            host, user, passwd, acct
-    These are all strings, and have default value ''.
+    To create a connection, call the class using these arguments:
+            host, user, passwd, acct, timeout
+
+    The first four arguments are all strings, and have default value ''.
+    timeout must be numeric and defaults to None if not passed,
+    meaning that no timeout will be set on any ftp socket(s)
+    If a timeout is passed, then this is now the default timeout for all ftp
+    socket operations for this instance.
+    
     Then use self.connect() with optional host and port argument.
 
     To download a file, use ftp.retrlines('RETR ' + filename),
@@ -102,32 +108,24 @@ class FTP:
     # Initialize host to localhost, port to standard ftp port
     # Optional arguments are host (for connect()),
     # and user, passwd, acct (for login())
-    def __init__(self, host='', user='', passwd='', acct=''):
+    def __init__(self, host='', user='', passwd='', acct='', timeout=None):
+        self.timeout = timeout
         if host:
             self.connect(host)
-            if user: self.login(user, passwd, acct)
+            if user: 
+                self.login(user, passwd, acct)
 
-    def connect(self, host = '', port = 0):
+    def connect(self, host='', port=0):
         '''Connect to host.  Arguments are:
-        - host: hostname to connect to (string, default previous host)
-        - port: port to connect to (integer, default previous port)'''
-        if host: self.host = host
-        if port: self.port = port
-        msg = "getaddrinfo returns an empty list"
-        for res in socket.getaddrinfo(self.host, self.port, 0, socket.SOCK_STREAM):
-            af, socktype, proto, canonname, sa = res
-            try:
-                self.sock = socket.socket(af, socktype, proto)
-                self.sock.connect(sa)
-            except socket.error, msg:
-                if self.sock:
-                    self.sock.close()
-                self.sock = None
-                continue
-            break
-        if not self.sock:
-            raise socket.error, msg
-        self.af = af
+         - host: hostname to connect to (string, default previous host)
+         - port: port to connect to (integer, default previous port)
+        '''
+        if host != '':
+            self.host = host
+        if port > 0:
+            self.port = port
+        self.sock = socket.create_connection((self.host, self.port), self.timeout)
+        self.af = self.sock.family
         self.file = self.sock.makefile('rb')
         self.welcome = self.getresp()
         return self.welcome
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_ftplib.py b/Lib/test/test_ftplib.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8cf78868664
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Lib/test/test_ftplib.py
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+import socket
+import threading
+import ftplib
+import time
+
+from unittest import TestCase
+from test import test_support
+
+def server(evt):
+    serv = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+    serv.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_REUSEADDR, 1)
+    serv.bind(("", 9091))
+    serv.listen(5)
+    conn, addr = serv.accept()
+    conn.send("1 Hola mundo\n")
+    conn.close()
+    serv.close()
+    evt.set()
+
+class GeneralTests(TestCase):
+    
+    def setUp(self):
+        ftplib.FTP.port = 9091
+        self.evt = threading.Event()
+        threading.Thread(target=server, args=(self.evt,)).start()
+        time.sleep(.1)
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        self.evt.wait()
+
+    def testBasic(self):
+        # do nothing
+        ftplib.FTP()
+
+        # connects
+        ftp = ftplib.FTP("localhost")
+        ftp.sock.close()
+        
+    def testTimeoutDefault(self):
+        # default
+        ftp = ftplib.FTP("localhost")
+        self.assertTrue(ftp.sock.gettimeout() is None)
+        ftp.sock.close()
+    
+    def testTimeoutValue(self):
+        # a value
+        ftp = ftplib.FTP("localhost", timeout=30)
+        self.assertEqual(ftp.sock.gettimeout(), 30)
+        ftp.sock.close()
+
+    def testTimeoutNone(self):
+        # None, having other default
+        previous = socket.getdefaulttimeout()
+        socket.setdefaulttimeout(30)
+        try:
+            ftp = ftplib.FTP("localhost", timeout=None)
+        finally:
+            socket.setdefaulttimeout(previous)
+        self.assertEqual(ftp.sock.gettimeout(), 30)
+        ftp.close()
+
+
+
+def test_main(verbose=None):
+    test_support.run_unittest(GeneralTests)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    test_main()