diff --git a/src/main/com/mongodb/DBPort.java b/src/main/com/mongodb/DBPort.java
index 29d3d0f855a..5167c9bcce4 100644
--- a/src/main/com/mongodb/DBPort.java
+++ b/src/main/com/mongodb/DBPort.java
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ void _open() throws IOException {
                 _socket.setTcpNoDelay( ! USE_NAGLE );
                 _socket.setKeepAlive( _options.socketKeepAlive );
                 _socket.setSoTimeout( _options.socketTimeout );
-                _in = new BufferedInputStream( _socket.getInputStream() );
+                _in = new BufferedInputStream( _socket.getInputStream(), MongoConnectionPool.BUFFERSIZE );
                 _out = _socket.getOutputStream();
                 successfullyConnected = true;
             }
diff --git a/src/main/com/mongodb/MongoConnectionPool.java b/src/main/com/mongodb/MongoConnectionPool.java
index 44236da2bf5..93f1ae03e61 100644
--- a/src/main/com/mongodb/MongoConnectionPool.java
+++ b/src/main/com/mongodb/MongoConnectionPool.java
@@ -22,7 +22,16 @@
  */
 class MongoConnectionPool extends DBPortPool implements MongoConnectionPoolMXBean {
 
+	static final int BUFFERSIZE = Integer.valueOf(System.getProperty("mongodb.buffersize", "8192"));
+	
     MongoConnectionPool(ServerAddress addr, MongoOptions options) {
         super(addr, options);
+    	Bytes.LOGGER.warning("ConnectionPool configured with "+BUFFERSIZE+" bytes, change with -Dmongodb.buffersize" );
+
     }
+
+	@Override
+	public int getConfiguredBufferSize() {
+		return BUFFERSIZE;
+	}
 }
diff --git a/src/main/com/mongodb/MongoConnectionPoolMXBean.java b/src/main/com/mongodb/MongoConnectionPoolMXBean.java
index 6d4d5829a38..6498b920633 100644
--- a/src/main/com/mongodb/MongoConnectionPoolMXBean.java
+++ b/src/main/com/mongodb/MongoConnectionPoolMXBean.java
@@ -59,4 +59,9 @@ public interface MongoConnectionPoolMXBean {
      * @return the connection pool statistics
      */
     ConnectionPoolStatisticsBean getStatistics();
+
+    /**
+     * returns the currently active buffer size for buffered input streams
+     */
+    int getConfiguredBufferSize();
 }