diff --git a/src/Client.php b/src/Client.php
index 163f2ec..1c751c7 100644
--- a/src/Client.php
+++ b/src/Client.php
@@ -54,6 +54,12 @@ class Client
      */
     protected $namespace = '';
 
+    /**
+     * Timeout for creating the socket connection
+     * @var null|float
+     */
+    protected $timeout;
+
 
     /**
      * Singleton Reference
@@ -77,6 +83,10 @@ public static function instance($name = 'default')
     public function __construct($instance_id = null)
     {
         $this->instance_id = $instance_id ?: uniqid();
+
+        if (empty($this->timeout)) {
+            $this->timeout = ini_get('default_socket_timeout');
+        }
     }
 
 
@@ -111,6 +121,9 @@ public function configure(array $options = array())
         if (isset($options['namespace'])) {
             $this->namespace = $options['namespace'];
         }
+        if (isset($options['timeout'])) {
+            $this->timeout = $options['timeout'];
+        }
         return $this;
     }
 
@@ -266,7 +279,7 @@ public function set($metric, $value)
     protected function send(array $data)
     {
 
-        $socket = @fsockopen('udp://' . $this->host, $this->port, $errno, $errstr);
+        $socket = @fsockopen('udp://' . $this->host, $this->port, $errno, $errstr, $this->timeout);
         if (! $socket) {
             throw new ConnectionException($this, '(' . $errno . ') ' . $errstr);
         }
diff --git a/tests/ConnectionTest.php b/tests/ConnectionTest.php
index f55a074..adf9c74 100644
--- a/tests/ConnectionTest.php
+++ b/tests/ConnectionTest.php
@@ -17,5 +17,18 @@ public function testInvalidHost()
         $this->client->increment('test');
     }
 
+    public function testTimeoutSettingIsUsedWhenCreatingSocketIfProvided()
+    {
+        $this->client->configure(array(
+            'host' => 'localhost',
+            'timeout' => 123
+        ));
 
+        $this->assertAttributeSame(123, 'timeout', $this->client);
+    }
+
+    public function testTimeoutDefaultsToPhpIniDefaultSocketTimeout()
+    {
+        $this->assertAttributeSame(ini_get('default_socket_timeout'), 'timeout', $this->client);
+    }
 }