diff --git a/Release/include/cpprest/ws_msg.h b/Release/include/cpprest/ws_msg.h
index 9b3fe713a7..171234edf0 100644
--- a/Release/include/cpprest/ws_msg.h
+++ b/Release/include/cpprest/ws_msg.h
@@ -73,6 +73,15 @@ class websocket_outgoing_message
 {
 public:
 
+	/// <summary>
+	/// Sets a the outgoing message to be an unsolicited pong message.
+	/// This is useful when the client side wants to check whether the server is alive.
+	/// </summary>
+	void set_pong_message()
+	{
+		this->set_message_pong();
+	}
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Sets a UTF-8 message as the message body.
     /// </summary>
@@ -152,6 +161,14 @@ class websocket_outgoing_message
 
     const pplx::task_completion_event<void> & body_sent() const { return m_body_sent; }
 
+	void set_message_pong()
+	{
+		concurrency::streams::container_buffer<std::string> buffer("");
+		m_msg_type = websocket_message_type::pong;
+		m_length = static_cast<size_t>(buffer.size());
+		m_body = buffer;
+	}
+
     void set_message(const concurrency::streams::container_buffer<std::string> &buffer)
     {
         m_msg_type = websocket_message_type::text_message;
diff --git a/Release/src/websockets/client/ws_client_wspp.cpp b/Release/src/websockets/client/ws_client_wspp.cpp
index 1e53f69e39..bd17af922e 100644
--- a/Release/src/websockets/client/ws_client_wspp.cpp
+++ b/Release/src/websockets/client/ws_client_wspp.cpp
@@ -373,13 +373,14 @@ class wspp_callback_client : public websocket_client_callback_impl, public std::
         {
         case websocket_message_type::text_message:
         case websocket_message_type::binary_message:
+		case websocket_message_type::pong:
             break;
         default:
             return pplx::task_from_exception<void>(websocket_exception("Invalid message type"));
         }
 
         const auto length = msg.m_length;
-        if (length == 0)
+        if (length == 0 && msg.m_msg_type != websocket_message_type::pong)
         {
             return pplx::task_from_exception<void>(websocket_exception("Cannot send empty message."));
         }
@@ -639,13 +640,19 @@ class wspp_callback_client : public websocket_client_callback_impl, public std::
                 ec);
             break;
         case websocket_message_type::binary_message:
-            client.send(
+			client.send(
                 this_client->m_con,
                 sp_allocated.get(),
                 length,
                 websocketpp::frame::opcode::binary,
                 ec);
             break;
+		case websocket_message_type::pong:
+			client.pong(
+				this_client->m_con,
+				"",
+				ec);
+			break;
         default:
             // This case should have already been filtered above.
             std::abort();