diff --git a/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/receiver/RateLimiter.scala b/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/receiver/RateLimiter.scala
index 219892dd02648..0cf28c8262523 100644
--- a/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/receiver/RateLimiter.scala
+++ b/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/receiver/RateLimiter.scala
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 package org.apache.spark.streaming.receiver
 
 import org.apache.spark.{Logging, SparkConf}
-import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit._
+import com.google.common.util.concurrent.{RateLimiter=>GuavaRateLimiter}
 
 /** Provides waitToPush() method to limit the rate at which receivers consume data.
   *
@@ -33,37 +33,13 @@ import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit._
   */
 private[receiver] abstract class RateLimiter(conf: SparkConf) extends Logging {
 
-  private var lastSyncTime = System.nanoTime
-  private var messagesWrittenSinceSync = 0L
   private val desiredRate = conf.getInt("spark.streaming.receiver.maxRate", 0)
-  private val SYNC_INTERVAL = NANOSECONDS.convert(10, SECONDS)
+  private lazy val rateLimiter = GuavaRateLimiter.create(desiredRate)
 
   def waitToPush() {
     if( desiredRate <= 0 ) {
       return
     }
-    val now = System.nanoTime
-    val elapsedNanosecs = math.max(now - lastSyncTime, 1)
-    val rate = messagesWrittenSinceSync.toDouble * 1000000000 / elapsedNanosecs
-    if (rate < desiredRate) {
-      // It's okay to write; just update some variables and return
-      messagesWrittenSinceSync += 1
-      if (now > lastSyncTime + SYNC_INTERVAL) {
-        // Sync interval has passed; let's resync
-        lastSyncTime = now
-        messagesWrittenSinceSync = 1
-      }
-    } else {
-      // Calculate how much time we should sleep to bring ourselves to the desired rate.
-      val targetTimeInMillis = messagesWrittenSinceSync.toDouble * 1000 / desiredRate
-      val elapsedTimeInMillis = elapsedNanosecs / 1000000
-      val sleepTimeInMillis = targetTimeInMillis - elapsedTimeInMillis
-      if (sleepTimeInMillis > 0) {
-        logTrace("Natural rate is " + rate + " per second but desired rate is " +
-          desiredRate + ", sleeping for " + sleepTimeInMillis + " ms to compensate.")
-        Thread.sleep(sleepTimeInMillis.toInt)
-      }
-      waitToPush()
-    }
+    rateLimiter.acquire()
   }
 }