diff --git a/telegram/bot.py b/telegram/bot.py
index 3805335be..52904d3a8 100644
--- a/telegram/bot.py
+++ b/telegram/bot.py
@@ -649,7 +649,8 @@ class Bot(TelegramObject):
     def getUpdates(self,
                    offset=None,
                    limit=100,
-                   timeout=0):
+                   timeout=0,
+                   network_delay=2):
         """Use this method to receive incoming updates using long polling.
 
         Args:
@@ -665,6 +666,11 @@ class Bot(TelegramObject):
           timeout:
             Timeout in seconds for long polling. Defaults to 0, i.e. usual
             short polling.
+          network_delay:
+            Additional timeout in seconds to allow the response from Telegram to
+            take some time when using long polling. Defaults to 2, which should
+            be enough for most connections. Increase it if it takes very long
+            for data to be transmitted from and to the Telegram servers.
 
         Returns:
           A list of telegram.Update objects are returned.
@@ -679,6 +685,8 @@ class Bot(TelegramObject):
             data['limit'] = limit
         if timeout:
             data['timeout'] = timeout
+        if network_delay:
+            data['network_delay'] = network_delay
 
         result = request.post(url, data)
 
diff --git a/telegram/utils/request.py b/telegram/utils/request.py
index eaed476eb..0b6e0d2db 100644
--- a/telegram/utils/request.py
+++ b/telegram/utils/request.py
@@ -79,10 +79,13 @@ def post(url,
       A JSON object.
     """
 
-    # Add one second to the timeout of urlopen to allow data to be transferred
-    # over the network.
+    # Add time to the timeout of urlopen to allow data to be transferred over
+    # the network.
     if 'timeout' in data:
-        timeout = data['timeout'] + 1.
+        if 'network_delay' in data:
+            timeout = data['timeout'] + data['network_delay']
+        else:
+            timeout = data['timeout'] + 2.
     else:
         timeout = None
 
@@ -108,7 +111,7 @@ def post(url,
         message = _parse(error.read())
         raise TelegramError(message)
     except SSLError as error:
-        if "The read operation timed out" == error.message:
+        if "operation timed out" in error.message:
             raise TelegramError("Timed out")
 
         raise TelegramError(error.message)