diff --git a/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiClient.cpp b/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiClient.cpp
index e5f05cbe..59f1d121 100644
--- a/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiClient.cpp
+++ b/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiClient.cpp
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@
 
 #include "WiFiClient.h"
 
+extern "C" {
+  #include "esp_log.h"
+}
 
 WiFiClient::WiFiClient() :
   WiFiClient(-1)
@@ -64,15 +67,59 @@ int WiFiClient::connect(IPAddress ip, uint16_t port)
   addr.sin_addr.s_addr = (uint32_t)ip;
   addr.sin_port = htons(port);
 
+  if (_connTimeout == 0) {
   if (lwip_connect_r(_socket, (struct sockaddr*)&addr, sizeof(addr)) < 0) {
     lwip_close_r(_socket);
     _socket = -1;
     return 0;
   }
+  }
 
   int nonBlocking = 1;
   lwip_ioctl_r(_socket, FIONBIO, &nonBlocking);
 
+  if (_connTimeout > 0) {
+    int res = lwip_connect_r(_socket, (struct sockaddr*)&addr, sizeof(addr));
+    if (res < 0 && errno != EINPROGRESS) {
+      ESP_LOGW("WiFiClient", "connect on socket %d, errno: %d, \"%s\"", _socket, errno, strerror(errno));
+      lwip_close_r(_socket);
+      _socket = -1;
+      return 0;
+    }
+
+    struct timeval tv;
+    tv.tv_sec = _connTimeout / 1000;
+    tv.tv_usec = (_connTimeout  % 1000) * 1000;
+  
+    fd_set fdset;
+    FD_ZERO(&fdset);
+    FD_SET(_socket, &fdset);
+
+    res = select(_socket + 1, nullptr, &fdset, nullptr, &tv);
+    if (res < 0) {
+      ESP_LOGW("WiFiClient", "select on socket %d, errno: %d, \"%s\"", _socket, errno, strerror(errno));
+      lwip_close_r(_socket);
+      return 0;
+    }
+    if (res == 0) {
+      ESP_LOGW("WiFiClient", "select returned due to timeout %d ms for socket %d", _connTimeout,  _socket);
+      lwip_close_r(_socket);
+      return 0;
+    }
+    int sockerr;
+    socklen_t len = (socklen_t) sizeof(int);
+    res = lwip_getsockopt(_socket, SOL_SOCKET, SO_ERROR, &sockerr, &len);
+    if (res < 0) {
+      ESP_LOGW("WiFiClient", "getsockopt on socket %d, errno: %d, \"%s\"", _socket, errno, strerror(errno));
+      lwip_close_r(_socket);
+      return 0;
+    }
+    if (sockerr != 0) {
+      ESP_LOGW("WiFiClient", "socket error on socket %d, errno: %d, \"%s\"", _socket, sockerr, strerror(sockerr));
+      lwip_close_r(_socket);
+      return 0;
+    }
+  }
   return 1;
 }
 
diff --git a/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiClient.h b/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiClient.h
index 3840ed89..5ea6d535 100644
--- a/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiClient.h
+++ b/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiClient.h
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ class WiFiClient : public Client {
   virtual /*IPAddress*/uint32_t remoteIP();
   virtual uint16_t remotePort();
 
+  void setConnectionTimeout(uint16_t timeout) {_connTimeout = timeout;}
+
   // using Print::write;
 
 protected:
@@ -59,6 +61,7 @@ class WiFiClient : public Client {
 
 private:
   int _socket;
+  uint16_t _connTimeout = 0;
 };
 
 #endif // WIFICLIENT_H
diff --git a/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiSSLClient.cpp b/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiSSLClient.cpp
index 3bc7b40e..f4ef17b2 100644
--- a/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiSSLClient.cpp
+++ b/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiSSLClient.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@
 
 #include "WiFiSSLClient.h"
 
+extern "C" {
+  #include "esp_log.h"
+}
+
 class __Guard {
 public:
   __Guard(SemaphoreHandle_t handle) {
@@ -50,6 +54,8 @@ WiFiSSLClient::WiFiSSLClient() :
   _mbedMutex = xSemaphoreCreateRecursiveMutex();
 }
 
+static int net_connect( mbedtls_net_context *ctx, const char *host, const char *port, int proto, uint16_t timeout);
+
 int WiFiSSLClient::connect(const char* host, uint16_t port, bool sni)
 {
   synchronized {
@@ -113,7 +119,8 @@ int WiFiSSLClient::connect(const char* host, uint16_t port, bool sni)
     char portStr[6];
     itoa(port, portStr, 10);
 
-    if (mbedtls_net_connect(&_netContext, host, portStr, MBEDTLS_NET_PROTO_TCP) != 0) {
+    if (_connTimeout ? net_connect(&_netContext, host, portStr, MBEDTLS_NET_PROTO_TCP, _connTimeout)
+        : mbedtls_net_connect(&_netContext, host, portStr, MBEDTLS_NET_PROTO_TCP)) {
       stop();
       return 0;
     }
@@ -293,3 +300,79 @@ uint16_t WiFiSSLClient::remotePort()
 
   return ntohs(((struct sockaddr_in *)&addr)->sin_port);
 }
+
+
+/*
+ * based on mbedtls_net_connect, but with timeout support
+ */
+int net_connect(mbedtls_net_context *ctx, const char *host, const char *port, int proto, uint16_t timeout) {
+  int ret;
+  struct addrinfo hints, *addr_list, *cur;
+
+  /* Do name resolution with both IPv6 and IPv4 */
+  memset(&hints, 0, sizeof(hints));
+  hints.ai_family = AF_UNSPEC;
+  hints.ai_socktype = proto == MBEDTLS_NET_PROTO_UDP ? SOCK_DGRAM : SOCK_STREAM;
+  hints.ai_protocol =
+      proto == MBEDTLS_NET_PROTO_UDP ? IPPROTO_UDP : IPPROTO_TCP;
+
+  if ( getaddrinfo( host, port, &hints, &addr_list ) != 0) {
+    return ( MBEDTLS_ERR_NET_UNKNOWN_HOST);
+  }
+
+  /* Try the sockaddrs until a connection succeeds */
+  ret = MBEDTLS_ERR_NET_UNKNOWN_HOST;
+  for (cur = addr_list; cur != NULL; cur = cur->ai_next) {
+    int fd = socket(cur->ai_family, cur->ai_socktype, cur->ai_protocol);
+
+    if (fd < 0) {
+      ret = MBEDTLS_ERR_NET_SOCKET_FAILED;
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    mbedtls_net_context tmpCtx;
+    tmpCtx.fd = fd;
+    mbedtls_net_set_nonblock(&tmpCtx);
+
+    int res = connect(fd,  cur->ai_addr, cur->ai_addrlen);
+    if (res < 0 && errno != EINPROGRESS) {
+      ESP_LOGW("WiFiSSLClient", "connect on fd %d, errno: %d, \"%s\"", fd, errno, strerror(errno));
+    } else {
+      struct timeval tv;
+      tv.tv_sec = timeout / 1000;
+      tv.tv_usec = (timeout % 1000) * 1000;
+
+      fd_set fdset;
+      FD_ZERO(&fdset);
+      FD_SET(fd, &fdset);
+
+      res = select(fd + 1, nullptr, &fdset, nullptr, &tv);
+      if (res < 0) {
+        ESP_LOGW("WiFiSSLClient", "select on fd %d, errno: %d, \"%s\"", fd, errno, strerror(errno));
+      } else if (res == 0) {
+        ESP_LOGW("WiFiSSLClient", "select returned due to timeout %d ms for fd %d", timeout, fd);
+      } else {
+        int sockerr;
+        socklen_t len = (socklen_t) sizeof(int);
+        res = getsockopt(fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_ERROR, &sockerr, &len);
+        if (res < 0) {
+          ESP_LOGW("WiFiSSLClient", "getsockopt on fd %d, errno: %d, \"%s\"", fd, errno, strerror(errno));
+        } else if (sockerr != 0) {
+          ESP_LOGW("WiFiSSLClient", "socket error on fd %d, errno: %d, \"%s\"", fd, sockerr, strerror(sockerr));
+        } else {
+          ctx->fd = fd; // connected!
+          ret = 0;
+          mbedtls_net_set_block(ctx); // back to blocking for SSL handshake
+          break;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    close(fd);
+    ret = MBEDTLS_ERR_NET_CONNECT_FAILED;
+  }
+
+  freeaddrinfo(addr_list);
+
+  return (ret);
+}
+
diff --git a/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiSSLClient.h b/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiSSLClient.h
index 523e0427..41990a1a 100644
--- a/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiSSLClient.h
+++ b/arduino/libraries/WiFi/src/WiFiSSLClient.h
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ class WiFiSSLClient /*: public Client*/ {
   virtual /*IPAddress*/uint32_t remoteIP();
   virtual uint16_t remotePort();
 
+  void setConnectionTimeout(uint16_t timeout) {_connTimeout = timeout;}
+
 private:
   int connect(const char* host, uint16_t port, bool sni);
 
@@ -69,6 +71,7 @@ class WiFiSSLClient /*: public Client*/ {
   mbedtls_x509_crt _caCrt;
   bool _connected;
   int _peek;
+  uint16_t _connTimeout = 0;
 
   SemaphoreHandle_t _mbedMutex;
 };
diff --git a/main/CommandHandler.cpp b/main/CommandHandler.cpp
index e3435d1b..1d821624 100644
--- a/main/CommandHandler.cpp
+++ b/main/CommandHandler.cpp
@@ -595,6 +595,7 @@ int startClientTcp(const uint8_t command[], uint8_t response[])
   uint16_t port;
   uint8_t socket;
   uint8_t type;
+  uint16_t timeout = 0;
 
   memset(host, 0x00, sizeof(host));
 
@@ -611,11 +612,16 @@ int startClientTcp(const uint8_t command[], uint8_t response[])
     port = ntohs(port);
     socket = command[13 + command[3]];
     type = command[15 + command[3]];
+    if (command[2] == 6) { // optional sixth parameter
+      timeout = (uint16_t) command[17 + command[3]] << 8 | command[18 + command[3]];
+    }
   }
 
   if (type == 0x00) {
     int result;
 
+    tcpClients[socket].setConnectionTimeout(timeout);
+
     if (host[0] != '\0') {
       result = tcpClients[socket].connect(host, port);
     } else {
@@ -660,6 +666,8 @@ int startClientTcp(const uint8_t command[], uint8_t response[])
   } else if (type == 0x02) {
     int result;
 
+    tlsClients[socket].setConnectionTimeout(timeout);
+
     if (host[0] != '\0') {
       result = tlsClients[socket].connect(host, port);
     } else {
@@ -684,6 +692,8 @@ int startClientTcp(const uint8_t command[], uint8_t response[])
 
     configureECCx08();
 
+    static_cast<WiFiClient*>(bearsslClient.getClient())->setConnectionTimeout(timeout);
+
     if (host[0] != '\0') {
       result = bearsslClient.connect(host, port);
     } else {