diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/TransportHttp.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/TransportHttp.java
index 2f68eb9..5796ab3 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/TransportHttp.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/TransportHttp.java
@@ -514,8 +514,12 @@
 		conn.setRequestProperty(HDR_ACCEPT_ENCODING, ENCODING_GZIP);
 		conn.setRequestProperty(HDR_PRAGMA, "no-cache"); //$NON-NLS-1$
 		conn.setRequestProperty(HDR_USER_AGENT, userAgent);
-		conn.setConnectTimeout(getTimeout() * 1000);
-		conn.setReadTimeout(getTimeout() * 1000);
+		int timeOut = getTimeout();
+		if (timeOut != -1) {
+			int effTimeOut = timeOut * 1000;
+			conn.setConnectTimeout(effTimeOut);
+			conn.setReadTimeout(effTimeOut);
+		}
 		authMethod.configureRequest(conn);
 		return conn;
 	}