diff --git a/Phergie/Connection.php b/Phergie/Connection.php
index df967f5..2cf7343 100644
--- a/Phergie/Connection.php
+++ b/Phergie/Connection.php
@@ -96,6 +96,13 @@ class Phergie_Connection
      */
     protected $hostmask;
 
+    /**
+     * Stream context options
+     *
+     * @var array
+     */
+    protected $context = array();
+
     /**
      * Constructor to initialize instance properties.
      *
@@ -385,6 +392,28 @@ public function getPassword()
         return $this->password;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Sets the stream context options to use.
+     *
+     * @param array $context Context options as they will be passed to stream_context_create()
+     * @return Phergie_Connection_Streams Implements a fluent interface
+     */
+    public function setContext(array $context)
+    {
+        $this->context = $context;
+        return $this;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the stream context options in use.
+     *
+     * @return array Context options as they will be passed to stream_context_create()
+     */
+    public function getContext()
+    {
+        return $this->context;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Sets multiple connection settings using an array.
      *
diff --git a/Phergie/Driver/Streams.php b/Phergie/Driver/Streams.php
index 84f40fd..5699b04 100644
--- a/Phergie/Driver/Streams.php
+++ b/Phergie/Driver/Streams.php
@@ -342,13 +342,21 @@ public function getEvent()
      * @param string $remote  Address to connect the socket to
      * @param int    &$errno  System level error number if connection fails
      * @param string &$errstr System level error message if connection fails
+     * @param array  $context Optional socket context options
      *
      * @return resource Established socket
      */
-    protected function connect($remote, &$errno, &$errstr)
+    protected function connect($remote, &$errno, &$errstr, array $context = array())
     {
         // @codeCoverageIgnoreStart
-        return @stream_socket_client($remote, $errno, $errstr);
+        return @stream_socket_client(
+            $remote,
+            $errno,
+            $errstr,
+            ini_get('default_socket_timeout'),
+            STREAM_CLIENT_CONNECT,
+            stream_context_create($context)
+        );
         // @codeCoverageIgnoreEnd
     }
 
@@ -368,11 +376,12 @@ public function doConnect()
         $nick = $connection->getNick();
         $realname = $connection->getRealname();
         $transport = $connection->getTransport();
+        $context = $connection->getContext();
 
         // Establish and configure the socket connection
         $remote = $transport . '://' . $hostname . ':' . $port;
         $errno = $errstr = null;
-        $this->socket = $this->connect($remote, $errno, $errstr);
+        $this->socket = $this->connect($remote, $errno, $errstr, $context);
         if (!$this->socket) {
             throw new Phergie_Driver_Exception(
                 'Unable to connect: socket error ' . $errno . ' ' . $errstr,
diff --git a/Settings.php.dist b/Settings.php.dist
index 2a3a431..968d5c3 100644
--- a/Settings.php.dist
+++ b/Settings.php.dist
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ return array(
             // 'password' => 'password goes here if needed',
             // 'transport' => 'ssl', // uncomment to connect using SSL
             // 'encoding' => 'UTF-8', // uncomment if using UTF-8
+            // 'context' => array('socket' => array('bindto' => '0.0.0.0:0')), // uncomment to force use of IPv4
         )
     ),
 
diff --git a/Tests/Phergie/ConnectionTest.php b/Tests/Phergie/ConnectionTest.php
index 72f5ed0..4fa79f4 100644
--- a/Tests/Phergie/ConnectionTest.php
+++ b/Tests/Phergie/ConnectionTest.php
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ class Phergie_ConnectionTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
         'username' => 'MyUsername',
         'realname' => 'MyRealName',
         'password' => 'MyPassword',
+        'context' => array('socket' => array('bindto' => '0.0.0.0:0')),
     );
 
     /**
@@ -60,11 +61,12 @@ public function dataProviderTestGetOptionReturnsDefault()
             array('encoding', 'ISO-8859-1'),
             array('port', 6667),
             array('password', null),
+            array('context', array()),
         );
     }
 
     /**
-     * Tests that a default values are used for some options.
+     * Tests that default values are used for some options.
      *
      * @param string $option Name of the option with a default value
      * @param mixed  $value  Default value of the option
@@ -78,17 +80,6 @@ public function testGetOptionReturnsDefault($option, $value)
         $this->assertEquals($value, $connection->{'get' . ucfirst($option)}());
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Tests that a default encoding is used if one isn't specified.
-     *
-     * @return void
-     */
-    public function testGetEncodingReturnsDefault()
-    {
-        $connection = new Phergie_Connection;
-        $this->assertEquals('ISO-8859-1', $connection->getEncoding());
-    }
-
     /**
      * Tests that options can be set via the constructor.
      *
diff --git a/Tests/Phergie/Driver/StreamsTest.php b/Tests/Phergie/Driver/StreamsTest.php
index 7543ab1..7bb77d2 100644
--- a/Tests/Phergie/Driver/StreamsTest.php
+++ b/Tests/Phergie/Driver/StreamsTest.php
@@ -101,7 +101,8 @@ protected function getMockConnection()
             'port'      => 6667,
             'username'  => 'username',
             'realname'  => 'realname',
-            'transport' => 'tcp'
+            'transport' => 'tcp',
+            'context'   => array(),
         );
         $connection = parent::getMockConnection();
         foreach ($options as $key => $value) {