diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f43425f..04fbc1d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
 # le-challenge-webroot
 
-A fs-based strategy for node-letsencrypt for setting, retrieving,
+An fs-based strategy for node-letsencrypt for setting, retrieving,
 and clearing ACME challenges issued by the ACME server
 
 This places the acme challenge in an appropriate directory in the specified `webrootPath`
@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@ Usage
 
 ```bash
 var leChallenge = require('le-challenge-fs').create({
-  webrootPath: '~/letsencrypt/srv/www/:hostname/.well-known/acme-challenge'
+  webrootPath: '~/letsencrypt/srv/www/:hostname/.well-known/acme-challenge'   // defaults to os.tmpdir()
+, loopbackPort: 5001                                                          // defaults to 80
+, loopbackTimeout: 3000                                                       // defaults to 3000ms
 , debug: false
 });
 
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 5d29e77..f82cb32 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ var path = require('path');
 var myDefaults = {
   //webrootPath: [ '~', 'letsencrypt', 'var', 'lib' ].join(path.sep)
   webrootPath: path.join(require('os').tmpdir(), 'acme-challenge')
+, loopbackTimeout: 5 * 1000
 , debug: false
 };
 
@@ -69,7 +70,7 @@ Challenge.remove = function (defaults, domain, key, done) {
 };
 
 Challenge.loopback = function (defaults, domain, key, done) {
-  var hostname = domain + (defaults.test ? ':' + defaults.test : '');
+  var hostname = domain + (defaults.loopbackPort ? ':' + defaults.loopbackPort : '');
   var urlstr = 'http://' + hostname + '/.well-known/acme-challenge/' + key;
 
   require('http').get(urlstr, function (res) {
@@ -85,6 +86,8 @@ Challenge.loopback = function (defaults, domain, key, done) {
       var str = Buffer.concat(chunks).toString('utf8').trim();
       done(null, str);
     });
+  }).setTimeout(defaults.loopbackTimeout, function () {
+    done(new Error("loopback timeout, could not reach server"));
   }).on('error', function (err) {
     done(err);
   });
@@ -97,8 +100,7 @@ Challenge.test = function (args, domain, challenge, keyAuthorization, done) {
   me.set(args, domain, challenge, key, function (err) {
     if (err) { done(err); return; }
 
-    // test is actually the port to be used
-    myDefaults.test = args.test;
+    myDefaults.loopbackPort = args.loopbackPort;
     myDefaults.webrootPath = args.webrootPath;
     me.loopback(args, domain, challenge, function (err, _key) {
       if (err) { done(err); return; }
diff --git a/test.js b/test.js
index 03a0354..79a768c 100644
--- a/test.js
+++ b/test.js
@@ -59,7 +59,8 @@ function loopbackTest() {
     var port = server.address().port;
 
     opts.webrootPath = webrootPath;
-    opts.test = port;
+    opts.loopbackPort = port;
+    opts.loopbackTimeout = 500;
     challenge.test(opts, 'localhost', 'foo', 'bar', function (err) {
       server.close();
       if (err) { console.error(err.stack); return; }