diff --git a/netwerk/base/public/nsISocketTransport.idl b/netwerk/base/public/nsISocketTransport.idl
index 7556cd428d8e..ba8a8b0544b8 100644
--- a/netwerk/base/public/nsISocketTransport.idl
+++ b/netwerk/base/public/nsISocketTransport.idl
@@ -94,7 +94,9 @@ interface nsISocketTransport : nsITransport
     boolean isAlive();
 
     /**
-     * Socket timeouts in seconds.
+     * Socket timeouts in seconds.  To specify no timeout, pass PR_UINT32_MAX
+     * as aValue to setTimeout.  The implementation may truncate timeout values
+     * to a smaller range of values (e.g., 0 to 0xFFFF).
      */
     unsigned long getTimeout(in unsigned long aType);
     void          setTimeout(in unsigned long aType, in unsigned long aValue);
diff --git a/netwerk/base/src/nsServerSocket.cpp b/netwerk/base/src/nsServerSocket.cpp
index c33711a7f666..c56cd721a8d8 100644
--- a/netwerk/base/src/nsServerSocket.cpp
+++ b/netwerk/base/src/nsServerSocket.cpp
@@ -219,11 +219,7 @@ nsServerSocket::OnSocketReady(PRFileDesc *fd, PRInt16 outFlags)
 {
   NS_ASSERTION(NS_SUCCEEDED(mCondition), "oops");
   NS_ASSERTION(mFD == fd, "wrong file descriptor");
-
-  // If our poll timeout (of 2^16 seconds!) is reached, just go back to
-  // polling on the listening socket.
-  if (outFlags == -1)
-    return;
+  NS_ASSERTION(outFlags != -1, "unexpected timeout condition reached");
 
   if (outFlags & (PR_POLL_ERR | PR_POLL_HUP | PR_POLL_NVAL))
   {
diff --git a/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransport2.cpp b/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransport2.cpp
index 0877257421cd..957e9d64a4c0 100644
--- a/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransport2.cpp
+++ b/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransport2.cpp
@@ -72,14 +72,6 @@
 
 //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-// Large default timeouts approximate behavior of no timeout.  (It's better to
-// let the servers or host operating system time us out.)  These timeout values
-// are given in seconds.
-#define DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_CONNECT    (10 * 60)
-#define DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_READ_WRITE (10 * 60)
-
-//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
 static NS_DEFINE_CID(kSocketProviderServiceCID, NS_SOCKETPROVIDERSERVICE_CID);
 static NS_DEFINE_CID(kDNSServiceCID, NS_DNSSERVICE_CID);
 
@@ -704,8 +696,8 @@ nsSocketTransport::nsSocketTransport()
 
     NS_ADDREF(gSocketTransportService);
 
-    mTimeouts[TIMEOUT_CONNECT]    = DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_CONNECT;
-    mTimeouts[TIMEOUT_READ_WRITE] = DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_READ_WRITE;
+    mTimeouts[TIMEOUT_CONNECT]    = PR_UINT16_MAX; // no timeout
+    mTimeouts[TIMEOUT_READ_WRITE] = PR_UINT16_MAX; // no timeout
 }
 
 nsSocketTransport::~nsSocketTransport()
diff --git a/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransportService2.cpp b/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransportService2.cpp
index 42fc720b8056..43f5663b2eab 100644
--- a/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransportService2.cpp
+++ b/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransportService2.cpp
@@ -568,7 +568,8 @@ nsSocketTransportService::Run()
                     s.mElapsedTime = 0;
                     s.mHandler->OnSocketReady(desc.fd, desc.out_flags);
                 }
-                else {
+                // check for timeout errors unless disabled...
+                else if (s.mHandler->mPollTimeout != PR_UINT16_MAX) {
                     // update elapsed time counter
                     if (NS_UNLIKELY(pollInterval > (PR_UINT16_MAX - s.mElapsedTime)))
                         s.mElapsedTime = PR_UINT16_MAX;
diff --git a/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransportService2.h b/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransportService2.h
index e62f572398c1..6aa8e5bd3169 100644
--- a/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransportService2.h
+++ b/netwerk/base/src/nsSocketTransportService2.h
@@ -95,6 +95,10 @@ public:
     // spent waiting for activity on this socket.  if this timeout is reached,
     // then OnSocketReady will be called with outFlags = -1.
     //
+    // the default value for this member is PR_UINT16_MAX, which disables the
+    // timeout error checking.  (i.e., a timeout value of PR_UINT16_MAX is
+    // never reached.)
+    //
     PRUint16 mPollTimeout;
 
     //