diff --git a/network/CurlHttpClient.cpp b/network/CurlHttpClient.cpp
index ad846f23..c80a0a62 100644
--- a/network/CurlHttpClient.cpp
+++ b/network/CurlHttpClient.cpp
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ namespace cpputils {
         curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
     }
 
-    optional <string> CurlHttpClient::get(const string &url) {
+    optional <string> CurlHttpClient::get(const string &url, optional<long> timeoutMsec) {
         curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, url.c_str());
         // example.com is redirected, so we tell libcurl to follow redirection
         curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1L);
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ namespace cpputils {
         ostringstream out;
         curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, &CurlHttpClient::write_data);
         curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_WRITEDATA, &out);
+        if (timeoutMsec != none) {
+            curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT_MS, *timeoutMsec);
+        }
         // Perform the request, res will get the return code
         CURLcode res = curl_easy_perform(curl);
         // Check for errors
diff --git a/network/CurlHttpClient.h b/network/CurlHttpClient.h
index 50f3e72d..d86831b7 100644
--- a/network/CurlHttpClient.h
+++ b/network/CurlHttpClient.h
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ namespace cpputils {
 
         ~CurlHttpClient();
 
-        boost::optional <std::string> get(const std::string &url) override;
+        boost::optional <std::string> get(const std::string &url, boost::optional<long> timeoutMsec = boost::none) override;
 
     private:
         void *curl;
diff --git a/network/FakeHttpClient.cpp b/network/FakeHttpClient.cpp
index fb81f82b..098ffa3d 100644
--- a/network/FakeHttpClient.cpp
+++ b/network/FakeHttpClient.cpp
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ namespace cpputils {
         _sites[url] = content;
     }
 
-    optional<string> FakeHttpClient::get(const string &url) {
+    optional<string> FakeHttpClient::get(const string &url, optional<long> timeoutMsec) {
+        UNUSED(timeoutMsec);
         auto found = _sites.find(url);
         if (found == _sites.end()) {
             return none;
diff --git a/network/FakeHttpClient.h b/network/FakeHttpClient.h
index 5fd9e698..eb63d956 100644
--- a/network/FakeHttpClient.h
+++ b/network/FakeHttpClient.h
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ namespace cpputils {
 
         void addWebsite(const std::string &url, const std::string &content);
 
-        boost::optional<std::string> get(const std::string &url) override;
+        boost::optional<std::string> get(const std::string &url, boost::optional<long> timeoutMsec = boost::none) override;
 
     private:
         std::map<std::string, std::string> _sites;
diff --git a/network/HttpClient.h b/network/HttpClient.h
index 8578f0d5..6fc3b82b 100644
--- a/network/HttpClient.h
+++ b/network/HttpClient.h
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ namespace cpputils {
     public:
         virtual ~HttpClient() {}
 
-        virtual boost::optional<std::string> get(const std::string& url) = 0;
+        virtual boost::optional<std::string> get(const std::string& url, boost::optional<long> timeoutMsec = boost::none) = 0;
     };
 };