diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 56688635b..b19855ab7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -11,3 +11,8 @@ target
 log.xml
 .externalToolBuilders
 *.pyc
+#####
+# Intellij
+####
+.idea/
+*.iml
diff --git a/kurento-jsonrpc/kurento-jsonrpc-client/src/main/java/org/kurento/jsonrpc/client/JsonRpcClientNettyWebSocket.java b/kurento-jsonrpc/kurento-jsonrpc-client/src/main/java/org/kurento/jsonrpc/client/JsonRpcClientNettyWebSocket.java
index a7e280b85..bb93df053 100644
--- a/kurento-jsonrpc/kurento-jsonrpc-client/src/main/java/org/kurento/jsonrpc/client/JsonRpcClientNettyWebSocket.java
+++ b/kurento-jsonrpc/kurento-jsonrpc-client/src/main/java/org/kurento/jsonrpc/client/JsonRpcClientNettyWebSocket.java
@@ -16,14 +16,10 @@
 
 package org.kurento.jsonrpc.client;
 
+import javax.net.ssl.SSLException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;
 
-import javax.net.ssl.SSLException;
-
-import org.slf4j.Logger;
-import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
-
 import io.netty.bootstrap.Bootstrap;
 import io.netty.channel.Channel;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelFuture;
@@ -55,6 +51,8 @@
 import io.netty.handler.timeout.IdleStateEvent;
 import io.netty.handler.timeout.IdleStateHandler;
 import io.netty.util.CharsetUtil;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 public class JsonRpcClientNettyWebSocket extends AbstractJsonRpcClientWebSocket {
 
@@ -154,13 +152,30 @@ public void exceptionCaught(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Throwable cause) {
   private volatile Channel channel;
   private volatile EventLoopGroup group;
   private volatile JsonRpcWebSocketClientHandler handler;
+  private final boolean channelTimeout;
+  private String host = "";
+  private int port;
 
   public JsonRpcClientNettyWebSocket(String url) {
-    this(url, null);
+    this(url, null, false);
   }
 
   public JsonRpcClientNettyWebSocket(String url, JsonRpcWSConnectionListener connectionListener) {
+    this(url, connectionListener, false);
+    log.debug("{} Creating JsonRPC NETTY Websocket client", label);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Create json rpc client netty websocket connection
+   *
+   * @param url                - url of websocket connection
+   * @param connectionListener - listener
+   * @param channelTimeout     - should use future timeout for channel creation to prevent this thread from blocking forever.
+   */
+  public JsonRpcClientNettyWebSocket(String url, JsonRpcWSConnectionListener connectionListener,
+                                     boolean channelTimeout) {
     super(url, connectionListener);
+    this.channelTimeout = channelTimeout;
     log.debug("{} Creating JsonRPC NETTY Websocket client", label);
   }
 
@@ -185,20 +200,18 @@ protected boolean isNativeClientConnected() {
   @Override
   protected void connectNativeClient() throws TimeoutException, Exception {
 
-    if (channel == null || !channel.isActive() || group == null || group.isShuttingDown()
-        || group.isShutdown()) {
-
+    if (channel == null || !channel.isActive() || group == null || group.isShuttingDown() || group.isShutdown()) {
       log.info("{} Connecting native client", label);
 
       final boolean ssl = "wss".equalsIgnoreCase(this.uri.getScheme());
       final SslContext sslCtx;
       try {
         sslCtx = ssl ? SslContextBuilder.forClient()
-            .trustManager(InsecureTrustManagerFactory.INSTANCE).build() : null;
+                                        .trustManager(InsecureTrustManagerFactory.INSTANCE).build() : null;
       } catch (SSLException e) {
         log.error("{} Could not create SSL Context", label, e);
         throw new IllegalArgumentException(
-            "Could not create SSL context. See logs for more details", e);
+                "Could not create SSL context. See logs for more details", e);
       }
 
       final String scheme = uri.getScheme() == null ? "ws" : uri.getScheme();
@@ -215,7 +228,8 @@ protected void connectNativeClient() throws TimeoutException, Exception {
       } else {
         port = uri.getPort();
       }
-
+      this.port = port;
+      this.host = host;
       if (group == null || group.isShuttingDown() || group.isShutdown() || group.isTerminated()) {
         log.info("{} Creating new NioEventLoopGroup", label);
         group = new NioEventLoopGroup();
@@ -250,13 +264,26 @@ protected void initChannel(SocketChannel ch) {
       final int maxRetries = 5;
       while (channel == null || !channel.isOpen()) {
         try {
-          channel = b.connect(host, port).sync().channel();
-          handler.handshakeFuture().sync();
+          ChannelFuture future = b.connect(host, port);
+          if (channelTimeout) {
+            handleTimeout(future);
+            this.channel = future.channel();
+          } else {
+            channel = future.sync().channel();
+          }
+          future = handler.handshakeFuture();
+          if (channelTimeout) {
+            handleTimeout(future);
+          } else {
+            future.sync();
+          }
         } catch (InterruptedException e) {
           // This should never happen
           log.warn("{} ERROR connecting WS Netty client, opening channel", label, e);
         } catch (Exception e) {
-          if (e.getCause() instanceof WebSocketHandshakeException && numRetries < maxRetries) {
+          if (e.getCause() instanceof WebSocketHandshakeException
+              || e.getCause() instanceof TimeoutException
+              && numRetries < maxRetries) {
             log.warn(
                 "{} Upgrade exception when trying to connect to {}. Try {} of {}. Retrying in 200ms ",
                 label, uri, numRetries + 1, maxRetries);
@@ -281,6 +308,23 @@ public void operationComplete(ChannelFuture future) throws Exception {
 
   }
 
+  private void handleTimeout(ChannelFuture future) throws Exception {
+    // increase timeout plus 500 milliseconds to add buffer between actual connection timeout
+    final int timeoutMillis = this.connectionTimeout + 500;
+    future.await(timeoutMillis);
+    if (!future.isDone()) {
+      future.cancel(true);
+      throw new TimeoutException("Connection to " + host + ":" + port + " with future timeout of " + timeoutMillis);
+    }
+    if (future.isCancelled()) {
+      throw new Exception("Connection to " + host + ":" + port + " cancelled by user!");
+    }
+    if (!future.isSuccess()) {
+      final Throwable cause = future.cause();
+      throw new Exception("Create connection to " + host + ":" + port + " error", cause);
+    }
+  }
+
   @Override
   public void closeNativeClient() {
     closeChannel();
@@ -298,10 +342,14 @@ private void closeChannel() {
     if (channel != null) {
       log.debug("{} Closing client", label);
       try {
-        channel.close().sync();
+        ChannelFuture channelFuture = channel.close();
+        if (channelTimeout) {
+          handleTimeout(channelFuture);
+        } else {
+          channelFuture.sync();
+        }
       } catch (Exception e) {
-        log.debug("{} Could not properly close websocket client. Reason: {}", label, e.getMessage(),
-            e);
+        log.debug("{} Could not properly close websocket client. Reason: {}", label, e.getMessage(), e);
       }
       channel = null;
     } else {