diff --git a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocket.cpp b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocket.cpp
index 0d1cfa01..bfe59564 100644
--- a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocket.cpp
+++ b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocket.cpp
@@ -56,6 +56,11 @@ namespace ix
         _url = url;
     }
 
+    void WebSocket::setHandshakeTimeout(int handshakeTimeoutSecs)
+    {
+        _handshakeTimeoutSecs = handshakeTimeoutSecs;
+    }
+
     void WebSocket::setExtraHeaders(const WebSocketHttpHeaders& headers)
     {
         std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(_configMutex);
diff --git a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocket.h b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocket.h
index 5c47d303..7779ad14 100644
--- a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocket.h
+++ b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocket.h
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ namespace ix
         void setUrl(const std::string& url);
 
         // send extra headers in client handshake request
+        void setHandshakeTimeout(int handshakeTimeoutSecs);
         void setExtraHeaders(const WebSocketHttpHeaders& headers);
         void setPerMessageDeflateOptions(
             const WebSocketPerMessageDeflateOptions& perMessageDeflateOptions);