diff --git a/wait_for b/wait_for
index e1cc1b38e00..1fc6e2b866e 100755
--- a/wait_for
+++ b/wait_for
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ def main():
         argument_spec = dict(
             host=dict(default='127.0.0.1'),
             timeout=dict(default=300),
+            connect_timeout=dict(default=5),
             delay=dict(default=0),
             port=dict(required=True),
             state=dict(default='started', choices=['started', 'stopped']),
@@ -39,6 +40,7 @@ def main():
 
     host = params['host']
     timeout = int(params['timeout'])
+    connect_timeout = int(params['connect_timeout'])
     delay = int(params['delay'])
     port = int(params['port'])
     state = params['state']
@@ -46,38 +48,47 @@ def main():
     if delay:
         time.sleep(delay)
 
-    if state is 'stopped':
+    start = datetime.datetime.now()
+
+    if state == 'stopped':
         ### first wait for the host to go down
-        end = datetime.datetime.now() + datetime.timedelta(seconds=timeout)
+        end = start + datetime.timedelta(seconds=timeout)
 
         while datetime.datetime.now() < end:
             s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
-            s.settimeout(5)
+            s.settimeout(connect_timeout)
             try:
                 s.connect( (host, port) )
+                s.shutdown(socket.SHUT_RDWR)
                 s.close()
                 time.sleep(1)
             except:
                 break
         else:
-            module.fail_json(msg="Timeout when waiting for %s to stop."%(host))
+            elapsed = datetime.datetime.now() - start
+            module.fail_json(msg="Timeout when waiting for %s:%s to stop." % (host, port), elapsed=elapsed.seconds)
 
-    if state is 'started':
+    elif state == 'started':
         ### wait for the host to come up
-        end = datetime.datetime.now() + datetime.timedelta(seconds=timeout)
+        end = start + datetime.timedelta(seconds=timeout)
 
         while datetime.datetime.now() < end:
             s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+            s.settimeout(connect_timeout)
             try:
                 s.connect( (host, port) )
+                s.shutdown(socket.SHUT_RDWR)
                 s.close()
                 break
             except:
                 time.sleep(1)
+                pass
         else:
-            module.fail_json(msg="Timeout when waiting for %s"%(host))
+            elapsed = datetime.datetime.now() - start
+            module.fail_json(msg="Timeout when waiting for %s:%s" % (host, port), elapsed=elapsed.seconds)
 
-    module.exit_json(state=state, port=port)
+    elapsed = datetime.datetime.now() - start
+    module.exit_json(state=state, port=port, elapsed=elapsed.seconds)
 
 # this is magic, see lib/ansible/module_common.py
 #<<INCLUDE_ANSIBLE_MODULE_COMMON>>