diff --git a/lib/sidekiq/redis_connection.rb b/lib/sidekiq/redis_connection.rb
index c029af3a..e06fa221 100644
--- a/lib/sidekiq/redis_connection.rb
+++ b/lib/sidekiq/redis_connection.rb
@@ -9,19 +9,19 @@ module Sidekiq
         url = options[:url] || determine_redis_provider || 'redis://localhost:6379/0'
         # need a connection for Fetcher and Retry
         size = options[:size] || (Sidekiq.server? ? (Sidekiq.options[:concurrency] + 2) : 5)
-        timeout = options[:timeout] || 1
+        pool_timeout = options[:pool_timeout] || 1
 
         log_info(url, options)
 
-        ConnectionPool.new(:timeout => timeout, :size => size) do
-          build_client(url, options[:namespace], options[:driver] || 'ruby')
+        ConnectionPool.new(:timeout => pool_timeout, :size => size) do
+          build_client(url, options[:namespace], options[:driver] || 'ruby', options[:network_timeout])
         end
       end
 
       private
 
-      def build_client(url, namespace, driver)
-        client = Redis.connect(:url => url, :driver => driver)
+      def build_client(url, namespace, driver, network_timeout)
+        client = Redis.connect client_opts(url, driver, network_timeout)
         if namespace
           require 'redis/namespace'
           Redis::Namespace.new(namespace, :redis => client)
@@ -30,6 +30,14 @@ module Sidekiq
         end
       end
 
+      def client_opts(url, driver, timeout)
+        if timeout
+          { :url => url, :driver => driver, :timeout => timeout }
+        else
+          { :url => url, :driver => driver }
+        end
+      end
+
       def log_info(url, options)
         opts = options.dup
         opts.delete(:url)
diff --git a/test/test_redis_connection.rb b/test/test_redis_connection.rb
index cb6de0a7..9bf4099f 100644
--- a/test/test_redis_connection.rb
+++ b/test/test_redis_connection.rb
@@ -10,6 +10,22 @@ class TestRedisConnection < Minitest::Test
       assert_equal Redis, pool.checkout.class
     end
 
+    describe "network_timeout" do
+      it "sets a custom network_timeout if specified" do
+        pool = Sidekiq::RedisConnection.create(:network_timeout => 8)
+        redis = pool.checkout
+        
+        assert_equal 8, redis.client.timeout
+      end
+
+      it "uses the default network_timeout if none specified" do
+        pool = Sidekiq::RedisConnection.create
+        redis = pool.checkout
+
+        assert_equal 5, redis.client.timeout
+      end
+    end
+
     describe "namespace" do
       it "uses a given :namespace" do
         pool = Sidekiq::RedisConnection.create(:namespace => "xxx")
@@ -23,9 +39,9 @@ class TestRedisConnection < Minitest::Test
       end
     end
 
-    describe "timeout" do
+    describe "pool_timeout" do
       it "uses a given :timeout over the default of 1" do
-        pool = Sidekiq::RedisConnection.create(:timeout => 5)
+        pool = Sidekiq::RedisConnection.create(:pool_timeout => 5)
         
         assert_equal 5, pool.instance_eval{ @timeout }
       end