diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/http/internal/JavaUrlHttpCommandExecutorService.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/http/internal/JavaUrlHttpCommandExecutorService.java
index 50ef222bad..1fec2a79c8 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/http/internal/JavaUrlHttpCommandExecutorService.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/http/internal/JavaUrlHttpCommandExecutorService.java
@@ -185,12 +185,8 @@ public class JavaUrlHttpCommandExecutorService extends BaseHttpCommandExecutorSe
          if (utils.trustAllCerts())
             sslCon.setSSLSocketFactory(untrustedSSLContextProvider.get().getSocketFactory());
       }
-      if (utils.getConnectionTimeout() > 0) {
-         connection.setConnectTimeout(utils.getConnectionTimeout());
-      }
-      if (utils.getSocketOpenTimeout() > 0) {
-         connection.setReadTimeout(utils.getSocketOpenTimeout());
-      }
+      connection.setConnectTimeout(utils.getConnectionTimeout());
+      connection.setReadTimeout(utils.getSocketOpenTimeout());
       connection.setDoOutput(true);
       connection.setAllowUserInteraction(false);
       // do not follow redirects since https redirects don't work properly