diff --git a/HISTORY.md b/HISTORY.md
index ea2f1e4..027f421 100644
--- a/HISTORY.md
+++ b/HISTORY.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # History
 
+## 0.16.1 (unreleased)
+
+ * add checkTimeoutInterval to createClient
+
 ## 0.16.0
 
  * cross version support exposed : version option in createClient and createServer
diff --git a/doc/README.md b/doc/README.md
index 081edb4..d2ddb77 100644
--- a/doc/README.md
+++ b/doc/README.md
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ Returns a `Client` instance and perform login.
  * clientToken : generated if a password is given
  * accessToken : generated if a password is given
  * keepAlive : send keep alive packets : default to true
+ * checkTimeoutInterval : default to `10*1000` (10s), check if keepalive received at that period, disconnect otherwise.
  * version : 1.8 or 1.9 : default to 1.8
 
 ## mc.Client(isServer,version)
diff --git a/src/createClient.js b/src/createClient.js
index aa5fc0e..9400938 100644
--- a/src/createClient.js
+++ b/src/createClient.js
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ function createClient(options) {
   assert.ok(options.username, "username is required");
   var haveCredentials = options.password != null || (clientToken != null && options.session != null);
   var keepAlive = options.keepAlive == null ? true : options.keepAlive;
+  var checkTimeoutInterval = options.checkTimeoutInterval || 10 * 1000;
 
   var optVersion = options.version || require("./version").defaultVersion;
   var mcData=require("minecraft-data")(optVersion);
@@ -103,8 +104,11 @@ function createClient(options) {
   function onCompressionRequest(packet) {
     client.compressionThreshold = packet.threshold;
   }
-
+  var timeout = null;
   function onKeepAlive(packet) {
+    if (timeout)
+      clearTimeout(timeout);
+    timeout = setTimeout(() => client.end(), checkTimeoutInterval);
     client.write('keep_alive', {
       keepAliveId: packet.keepAliveId
     });