diff --git a/lib/moped/connection/socket/connectable.rb b/lib/moped/connection/socket/connectable.rb
index 3003a47..2d45d0a 100644
--- a/lib/moped/connection/socket/connectable.rb
+++ b/lib/moped/connection/socket/connectable.rb
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ module Socket
       module Connectable
 
         attr_reader :host, :port
+        attr_accessor :timeout
 
         # Is the socket connection alive?
         #
@@ -44,7 +45,14 @@ def self.included(klass)
         # @since 1.2.0
         def read(length)
           check_if_alive!
-          handle_socket_errors { super }
+          handle_socket_errors {
+            if Kernel.select([self], nil, [self], @timeout)
+              super
+            else
+              raise Errors::ConnectionFailure,
+              "timeout #{@timeout} exceeded on read from #{host}:#{port}"
+            end
+          }
         end
 
         # Write to the socket.
@@ -145,9 +153,7 @@ def connect(host, port, timeout)
                 sock = new(host, port)
                 sock.set_encoding('binary')
                 timeout_val = [ timeout, 0 ].pack("l_2")
-                sock.setsockopt(::Socket::IPPROTO_TCP, ::Socket::TCP_NODELAY, 1)
-                sock.setsockopt(::Socket::SOL_SOCKET, ::Socket::SO_RCVTIMEO, timeout_val)
-                sock.setsockopt(::Socket::SOL_SOCKET, ::Socket::SO_SNDTIMEO, timeout_val)
+                sock.timeout = timeout
                 sock
               end
             rescue Timeout::Error
diff --git a/spec/moped/connection/socket/tcp_spec.rb b/spec/moped/connection/socket/tcp_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..46649d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/moped/connection/socket/tcp_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+require 'spec_helper'
+require 'moped/connection/socket/tcp'
+
+describe Moped::Connection::Socket::TCP do
+  it "raises Moped::Errors::ConnectionFailure if no response within timeout" do
+    Timeout::timeout(10) do
+      expect {
+        # this test relies on the mongo protocol expecting the client
+        # to speak first
+        socket = described_class.connect('127.0.0.1', 27017, 2)
+        socket.read(100)
+      }.to raise_exception Moped::Errors::ConnectionFailure
+    end
+  end
+end