diff --git a/epo_ops/api.py b/epo_ops/api.py
index 80eb76d..2ec90e4 100644
--- a/epo_ops/api.py
+++ b/epo_ops/api.py
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 from . import exceptions
 from .middlewares import Throttler
 from .models import (
-    NETWORK_TIMEOUT,
     AccessToken,
     Docdb,
     Epodoc,
@@ -21,6 +20,7 @@
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+DEFAULT_NETWORK_TIMEOUT = 10.0
 
 class Client(object):
     __auth_url__ = "https://ops.epo.org/3.2/auth/accesstoken"
@@ -35,14 +35,15 @@ class Client(object):
     __register_path__ = "register"
     __register_search_path__ = "register/search"
 
-    def __init__(self, key, secret, accept_type="xml", middlewares=None):
+    def __init__(self, key, secret, accept_type="xml", middlewares=None, timeout=DEFAULT_NETWORK_TIMEOUT):
         self.accept_type = "application/{0}".format(accept_type)
         self.middlewares = middlewares
         if middlewares is None:
             self.middlewares = [Throttler()]
-        self.request = Request(self.middlewares)
+        self.request = Request(self.middlewares, timeout)
         self.key = key
         self.secret = secret
+        self.timeout = timeout
         self._access_token = None
 
     def family(
@@ -351,7 +352,7 @@ def _acquire_token(self):
             self.__auth_url__,
             headers=headers,
             data=payload,
-            timeout=NETWORK_TIMEOUT,
+            timeout=self.timeout,
         )
         response.raise_for_status()
         self._access_token = AccessToken(response)
diff --git a/epo_ops/models.py b/epo_ops/models.py
index 014e435..f2add30 100644
--- a/epo_ops/models.py
+++ b/epo_ops/models.py
@@ -10,10 +10,6 @@
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-
-NETWORK_TIMEOUT = 10.0
-
-
 def _prepare_part(part):
     return "({0})".format(quote(part))
 
@@ -68,8 +64,9 @@ def is_expired(self):
 
 
 class Request(object):
-    def __init__(self, middlewares):
+    def __init__(self, middlewares, timeout=None):
         self.middlewares = middlewares
+        self.timeout = timeout
         self.reset_env()
 
     @property
@@ -86,10 +83,10 @@ def reset_env(self):
         self.env.update(self.default_env)
 
     def post(self, url, data=None, **kwargs):
-        return self._request(_post_callback, url, data, **kwargs)
+        return self._request(self._post_callback, url, data, **kwargs)
 
     def get(self, url, data=None, **kwargs):
-        return self._request(_get_callback, url, data, **kwargs)
+        return self._request(self._get_callback, url, data, **kwargs)
 
     def _request(self, callback, url, data=None, **kwargs):
         self.reset_env()
@@ -111,9 +108,8 @@ def _request(self, callback, url, data=None, **kwargs):
         return response
 
 
-def _post_callback(url, data, **kwargs):
-    return requests.post(url, data, **kwargs, timeout=NETWORK_TIMEOUT)
-
+    def _post_callback(self, url, data, **kwargs):
+        return requests.post(url, data, **kwargs, timeout=self.timeout)
 
-def _get_callback(url, data, **kwargs):
-    return requests.get(url, **kwargs, timeout=NETWORK_TIMEOUT)
+    def _get_callback(self, url, data, **kwargs):
+        return requests.get(url, **kwargs, timeout=self.timeout)