diff --git a/lib/net/telnet.rb b/lib/net/telnet.rb
index 1d38ee91ff..d2433554a2 100644
--- a/lib/net/telnet.rb
+++ b/lib/net/telnet.rb
@@ -523,10 +523,15 @@ module Net
     #            value specified when this instance was created will be
     #            used, or, failing that, the default value of 0 seconds,
     #            which means not to wait for more input.
+    # FailEOF:: if true, when the remote end closes the connection then an
+    #           EOFError will be raised. Otherwise, defaults to the old
+    #           behaviour that the function will return whatever data
+    #           has been received already, or nil if nothing was received.
     #           
     def waitfor(options) # :yield: recvdata
       time_out = @options["Timeout"]
       waittime = @options["Waittime"]
+      fail_eof = @options["FailEOF"]
 
       if options.kind_of?(Hash)
         prompt   = if options.has_key?("Match")
@@ -538,6 +543,7 @@ module Net
                    end
         time_out = options["Timeout"]  if options.has_key?("Timeout")
         waittime = options["Waittime"] if options.has_key?("Waittime")
+        fail_eof = options["FailEOF"]  if options.has_key?("FailEOF")
       else
         prompt = options
       end
@@ -589,6 +595,7 @@ module Net
           line += buf
           yield buf if block_given?
         rescue EOFError # End of file reached
+          raise if fail_eof
           if line == ''
             line = nil
             yield nil if block_given?