diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 581746d..25da130 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Package: rdwd
 Title: Select and Download Climate Data from 'DWD' (German Weather Service)
-Version: 0.8.5
-Date: 2017-09-29
+Version: 0.8.6
+Date: 2017-11-02
 Depends: R(>= 2.10)
 Imports: berryFunctions (>= 1.15.30), pbapply
 Suggests: RCurl, leaflet, knitr, rmarkdown, testthat, data.table
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index eec8733..3e6a246 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ rdwd ToDo-list / wishlist / issues
 - dataDWD: potentially use curl to download data without sleep need
 - selectDWD: if res/var/per is NA or "", give a selection popup
 - for per="monthly", make readDWD recognize MESS_DATUM_ENDE and _BEGINN, potentially create new column MESS_DATUM yyyy-mm-15
+- readDWD: figure out reason for fread trouble (reported in emails by some users)
 
 ---------------------------------------
 rdwd: DWD Climate Data access package by Berry Boessenkool, berry-b@gmx.de
diff --git a/R/dataDWD.R b/R/dataDWD.R
index 6bd199e..c511d84 100644
--- a/R/dataDWD.R
+++ b/R/dataDWD.R
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@
 #'               only download is performed and the filename(s) returned. DEFAULT: TRUE
 #' @param meta   Logical (vector): is the \code{file} a meta file? Passed to
 #'               \code{\link{readDWD}}. DEFAULT: TRUE for each file ending in ".txt"
-#' @param fread  Fast reading? See \code{\link{readDWD}}. DEFAULT: NA
+#' @param fread  Fast reading? See \code{\link{readDWD}}. DEFAULT: FALSE
 #' @param format Char (vector): format used in \code{\link{strptime}} to convert date/time column,
 #'               see \code{\link{readDWD}}. DEFAULT: NA
 #' @param ntrunc Single integer: number of filenames printed in messages
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ progbar=!quiet,
 browse=FALSE,
 read=TRUE,
 meta=substr(file, nchar(file)-3, 1e4)==".txt",
-fread=NA,
+fread=FALSE,
 format=NA,
 ntrunc=2,
 ...
diff --git a/R/readDWD.R b/R/readDWD.R
index f62bfc9..9f5e180 100644
--- a/R/readDWD.R
+++ b/R/readDWD.R
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@
 #'               DEFAULT: TRUE for each file ending in ".txt"
 #' @param fread  Logical: read faster with \code{data.table::\link[data.table]{fread}}?
 #'               For 30 daily/kl/hist files, 7 instead of 10 seconds.
-#'               DEFAULT: NA, which means TRUE if data.table is available.
+#'               NA can also be used, which means TRUE if data.table is available.
+#'               DEFAULT: FALSE
 #' @param minfo  Logical: read the meta info txt files in the zip folder (instead of actual data)?
 #'               Returns a named list of data.frames. DEFAULT: FALSE
 #' @param format Char (vector), only used if \code{meta=FALSE}: Format passed to
@@ -47,7 +48,7 @@
 readDWD <- function(
 file,
 meta=substr(file, nchar(file)-3, 1e4)==".txt",
-fread=NA,
+fread=FALSE,
 minfo=FALSE,
 format=NA,
 tz="GMT",
diff --git a/man/dataDWD.Rd b/man/dataDWD.Rd
index cae5beb..3534c52 100644
--- a/man/dataDWD.Rd
+++ b/man/dataDWD.Rd
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 dataDWD(file, dir = "DWDdata", force = FALSE, overwrite = FALSE,
   sleep = 0, quiet = FALSE, progbar = !quiet, browse = FALSE,
   read = TRUE, meta = substr(file, nchar(file) - 3, 10000) == ".txt",
-  fread = NA, format = NA, ntrunc = 2, ...)
+  fread = FALSE, format = NA, ntrunc = 2, ...)
 }
 \arguments{
 \item{file}{Char (vector): complete file URL(s) (including base and filename.zip) as returned by
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ only download is performed and the filename(s) returned. DEFAULT: TRUE}
 \item{meta}{Logical (vector): is the \code{file} a meta file? Passed to
 \code{\link{readDWD}}. DEFAULT: TRUE for each file ending in ".txt"}
 
-\item{fread}{Fast reading? See \code{\link{readDWD}}. DEFAULT: NA}
+\item{fread}{Fast reading? See \code{\link{readDWD}}. DEFAULT: FALSE}
 
 \item{format}{Char (vector): format used in \code{\link{strptime}} to convert date/time column,
 see \code{\link{readDWD}}. DEFAULT: NA}
diff --git a/man/readDWD.Rd b/man/readDWD.Rd
index 49717ce..85d52a6 100644
--- a/man/readDWD.Rd
+++ b/man/readDWD.Rd
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@
 \title{Process data from the DWD CDC FTP Server}
 \usage{
 readDWD(file, meta = substr(file, nchar(file) - 3, 10000) == ".txt",
-  fread = NA, minfo = FALSE, format = NA, tz = "GMT", progbar = TRUE)
+  fread = FALSE, minfo = FALSE, format = NA, tz = "GMT",
+  progbar = TRUE)
 }
 \arguments{
 \item{file}{Char (vector): name(s) of the file(s) downloaded with \code{\link{dataDWD}},
@@ -17,7 +18,8 @@ DEFAULT: TRUE for each file ending in ".txt"}
 
 \item{fread}{Logical: read faster with \code{data.table::\link[data.table]{fread}}?
 For 30 daily/kl/hist files, 7 instead of 10 seconds.
-DEFAULT: NA, which means TRUE if data.table is available.}
+NA can also be used, which means TRUE if data.table is available.
+DEFAULT: FALSE}
 
 \item{minfo}{Logical: read the meta info txt files in the zip folder (instead of actual data)?
 Returns a named list of data.frames. DEFAULT: FALSE}