diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ActorTimeoutSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ActorTimeoutSpec.scala
index e5b2303140..de1dd88923 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ActorTimeoutSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ActorTimeoutSpec.scala
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import akka.testkit.DefaultTimeout
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException
 import akka.dispatch.Await
 import akka.util.Timeout
-import akka.pattern.ask
+import akka.pattern.{ ask, AskTimeoutException }
 
 @org.junit.runner.RunWith(classOf[org.scalatest.junit.JUnitRunner])
 class ActorTimeoutSpec extends AkkaSpec with BeforeAndAfterAll with DefaultTimeout {
diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ForwardActorSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ForwardActorSpec.scala
index 95ecfe1280..cc5eb4c3a9 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ForwardActorSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ForwardActorSpec.scala
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ class ForwardActorSpec extends AkkaSpec {
 
     "forward actor reference when invoking forward on ask" in {
       val chain = createForwardingChain(system)
-      chain.ask(ExpectedMessage)(5000) onSuccess { case ExpectedMessage ⇒ testActor ! ExpectedMessage }
+      chain.ask(ExpectedMessage)(5 seconds) onSuccess { case ExpectedMessage ⇒ testActor ! ExpectedMessage }
       expectMsg(5 seconds, ExpectedMessage)
     }
   }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala
index 9ebae64e62..a053608a1b 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala
@@ -462,41 +462,3 @@ class VirtualPathContainer(val path: ActorPath, override val getParent: Internal
     }
   }
 }
-
-/**
- * This is what is used to complete a Future that is returned from an ask/? call,
- * when it times out.
- */
-class AskTimeoutException(message: String, cause: Throwable) extends TimeoutException {
-  def this(message: String) = this(message, null: Throwable)
-}
-
-/**
- * Akka private optimized representation of the temporary actor spawned to
- * receive the reply to an "ask" operation.
- */
-private[akka] final class PromiseActorRef(
-  val path: ActorPath,
-  override val getParent: InternalActorRef,
-  val result: Promise[Any],
-  val deathWatch: DeathWatch) extends MinimalActorRef {
-
-  final val running = new AtomicBoolean(true)
-
-  override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = if (running.get) message match {
-    case Status.Success(r) ⇒ result.success(r)
-    case Status.Failure(f) ⇒ result.failure(f)
-    case other             ⇒ result.success(other)
-  }
-
-  override def sendSystemMessage(message: SystemMessage): Unit = message match {
-    case _: Terminate ⇒ stop()
-    case _            ⇒
-  }
-
-  override def isTerminated = result.isCompleted
-
-  override def stop(): Unit = if (running.getAndSet(false)) {
-    deathWatch.publish(Terminated(this))
-  }
-}
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
index 4408f7562e..50478a248f 100755
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
@@ -70,6 +70,26 @@ trait ActorRefProvider {
 
   def scheduler: Scheduler
 
+  /**
+   * Generates and returns a unique actor path below “/temp”.
+   */
+  def tempPath(): ActorPath
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the actor reference representing the “/temp” path.
+   */
+  def tempContainer: InternalActorRef
+
+  /**
+   * Registers an actorRef at a path returned by tempPath(); do NOT pass in any other path.
+   */
+  def registerTempActor(actorRef: InternalActorRef, path: ActorPath)
+
+  /**
+   * Unregister a temporary actor from the “/temp” path (i.e. obtained from tempPath()); do NOT pass in any other path.
+   */
+  def unregisterTempActor(path: ActorPath)
+
   /**
    * Actor factory with create-only semantics: will create an actor as
    * described by props with the given supervisor and path (may be different
@@ -100,12 +120,6 @@ trait ActorRefProvider {
    */
   def actorFor(ref: InternalActorRef, p: Iterable[String]): InternalActorRef
 
-  /**
-   * Create AskActorRef and register it properly so it can be serialized/deserialized;
-   * caller needs to send the message.
-   */
-  def ask(within: Timeout): Option[PromiseActorRef]
-
   /**
    * This Future is completed upon termination of this ActorRefProvider, which
    * is usually initiated by stopping the guardian via ActorSystem.stop().
@@ -441,6 +455,16 @@ class LocalActorRefProvider(
 
   lazy val tempContainer = new VirtualPathContainer(tempNode, rootGuardian, log)
 
+  def registerTempActor(actorRef: InternalActorRef, path: ActorPath): Unit = {
+    assert(path.parent eq tempNode, "cannot registerTempActor() with anything not obtained from tempPath()")
+    tempContainer.addChild(path.name, actorRef)
+  }
+
+  def unregisterTempActor(path: ActorPath): Unit = {
+    assert(path.parent eq tempNode, "cannot unregisterTempActor() with anything not obtained from tempPath()")
+    tempContainer.removeChild(path.name)
+  }
+
   val deathWatch = new LocalDeathWatch(1024) //TODO make configrable
 
   def init(_system: ActorSystemImpl) {
@@ -493,25 +517,6 @@ class LocalActorRefProvider(
         new RoutedActorRef(system, props.withRouter(router.adaptFromDeploy(depl)), supervisor, path)
     }
   }
-
-  def ask(within: Timeout): Option[PromiseActorRef] = {
-    (if (within == null) settings.ActorTimeout else within) match {
-      case t if t.duration.length <= 0 ⇒ None
-      case t ⇒
-        val path = tempPath()
-        val name = path.name
-        val result = Promise[Any]()(dispatcher)
-        val a = new PromiseActorRef(path, tempContainer, result, deathWatch)
-        tempContainer.addChild(name, a)
-        val f = dispatcher.prerequisites.scheduler.scheduleOnce(t.duration) { result.failure(new AskTimeoutException("Timed out")) }
-        result onComplete { _ ⇒
-          try { a.stop(); f.cancel() }
-          finally { tempContainer.removeChild(name) }
-        }
-
-        Some(a)
-    }
-  }
 }
 
 class LocalDeathWatch(val mapSize: Int) extends DeathWatch with ActorClassification {
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/AskSupport.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/AskSupport.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bc79877fc3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/AskSupport.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
+ */
+package akka.pattern
+
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException
+import akka.actor.{ Terminated, Status, MinimalActorRef, InternalActorRef, ActorRef, ActorPath }
+import akka.dispatch.{ Promise, Terminate, SystemMessage, Future }
+import akka.event.DeathWatch
+import akka.actor.ActorRefProvider
+import akka.util.Timeout
+
+/**
+ * This is what is used to complete a Future that is returned from an ask/? call,
+ * when it times out.
+ */
+class AskTimeoutException(message: String, cause: Throwable) extends TimeoutException {
+  def this(message: String) = this(message, null: Throwable)
+}
+
+object AskSupport {
+
+  final class AskableActorRef(val actorRef: ActorRef) {
+
+    /**
+     * Sends a message asynchronously and returns a [[akka.dispatch.Future]]
+     * holding the eventual reply message; this means that the target actor
+     * needs to send the result to the `sender` reference provided. The Future
+     * will be completed with an [[akka.actor.AskTimeoutException]] after the
+     * given timeout has expired; this is independent from any timeout applied
+     * while awaiting a result for this future (i.e. in
+     * `Await.result(..., timeout)`).
+     *
+     * <b>Warning:</b>
+     * When using future callbacks, inside actors you need to carefully avoid closing over
+     * the containing actor’s object, i.e. do not call methods or access mutable state
+     * on the enclosing actor from within the callback. This would break the actor
+     * encapsulation and may introduce synchronization bugs and race conditions because
+     * the callback will be scheduled concurrently to the enclosing actor. Unfortunately
+     * there is not yet a way to detect these illegal accesses at compile time.
+     *
+     * <b>Recommended usage:</b>
+     *
+     * {{{
+     *   val f = worker.ask(request)(timeout)
+     *   flow {
+     *     EnrichedRequest(request, f())
+     *   } pipeTo nextActor
+     * }}}
+     *
+     * [see the [[akka.dispatch.Future]] companion object for a description of `flow`]
+     */
+    def ask(message: AnyRef)(implicit timeout: Timeout): Future[Any] = akka.pattern.ask(actorRef, message)(timeout)
+
+    /**
+     * Sends a message asynchronously and returns a [[akka.dispatch.Future]]
+     * holding the eventual reply message; this means that the target actor
+     * needs to send the result to the `sender` reference provided. The Future
+     * will be completed with an [[akka.actor.AskTimeoutException]] after the
+     * given timeout has expired; this is independent from any timeout applied
+     * while awaiting a result for this future (i.e. in
+     * `Await.result(..., timeout)`).
+     *
+     * <b>Warning:</b>
+     * When using future callbacks, inside actors you need to carefully avoid closing over
+     * the containing actor’s object, i.e. do not call methods or access mutable state
+     * on the enclosing actor from within the callback. This would break the actor
+     * encapsulation and may introduce synchronization bugs and race conditions because
+     * the callback will be scheduled concurrently to the enclosing actor. Unfortunately
+     * there is not yet a way to detect these illegal accesses at compile time.
+     *
+     * <b>Recommended usage:</b>
+     *
+     * {{{
+     *   val f = worker ? request
+     *   flow {
+     *     EnrichedRequest(request, f())
+     *   } pipeTo nextActor
+     * }}}
+     *
+     * [see the [[akka.dispatch.Future]] companion object for a description of `flow`]
+     */
+    def ?(message: Any)(implicit timeout: Timeout): Future[Any] = akka.pattern.ask(actorRef, message)
+
+    /*
+   * FIXME: I think this should be removed, since it introduces an “ambiguity” 
+   * when sending Tuple2, which the compiler resolves unexpectedly to this 
+   * method; also overloading is bad, isn’t it?  - RK (ticket #1653)
+   */
+    /**
+     * Sends a message asynchronously, returning a future which may eventually hold the reply.
+     * The implicit parameter with the default value is just there to disambiguate it from the version that takes the
+     * implicit timeout
+     */
+    def ?(message: Any, timeout: Timeout)(implicit ignore: Int = 0): Future[Any] = ?(message)(timeout)
+
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Akka private optimized representation of the temporary actor spawned to
+   * receive the reply to an "ask" operation.
+   */
+  private[akka] final class PromiseActorRef(
+    val path: ActorPath,
+    override val getParent: InternalActorRef,
+    val result: Promise[Any],
+    val deathWatch: DeathWatch) extends MinimalActorRef {
+
+    final val running = new AtomicBoolean(true)
+
+    override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = if (running.get) message match {
+      case Status.Success(r) ⇒ result.success(r)
+      case Status.Failure(f) ⇒ result.failure(f)
+      case other             ⇒ result.success(other)
+    }
+
+    override def sendSystemMessage(message: SystemMessage): Unit = message match {
+      case _: Terminate ⇒ stop()
+      case _            ⇒
+    }
+
+    override def isTerminated = result.isCompleted
+
+    override def stop(): Unit = if (running.getAndSet(false)) {
+      deathWatch.publish(Terminated(this))
+    }
+  }
+
+  def createAsker(provider: ActorRefProvider, timeout: Timeout): PromiseActorRef = {
+    val path = provider.tempPath()
+    val result = Promise[Any]()(provider.dispatcher)
+    val a = new PromiseActorRef(path, provider.tempContainer, result, provider.deathWatch)
+    provider.registerTempActor(a, path)
+    val f = provider.scheduler.scheduleOnce(timeout.duration) { result.failure(new AskTimeoutException("Timed out")) }
+    result onComplete { _ ⇒
+      try { a.stop(); f.cancel() }
+      finally { provider.unregisterTempActor(path) }
+    }
+    a
+  }
+}
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/AskableActorRef.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/AskableActorRef.scala
deleted file mode 100644
index faa4c4d5c0..0000000000
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/AskableActorRef.scala
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,84 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
- */
-package akka.pattern
-
-import akka.actor.{ ActorRef, InternalActorRef, AskTimeoutException }
-import akka.dispatch.{ Future, Promise }
-import akka.util.Timeout
-
-final class AskableActorRef(val actorRef: ActorRef) {
-
-  /**
-   * Sends a message asynchronously and returns a [[akka.dispatch.Future]]
-   * holding the eventual reply message; this means that the target actor
-   * needs to send the result to the `sender` reference provided. The Future
-   * will be completed with an [[akka.actor.AskTimeoutException]] after the
-   * given timeout has expired; this is independent from any timeout applied
-   * while awaiting a result for this future (i.e. in
-   * `Await.result(..., timeout)`).
-   *
-   * <b>Warning:</b>
-   * When using future callbacks, inside actors you need to carefully avoid closing over
-   * the containing actor’s object, i.e. do not call methods or access mutable state
-   * on the enclosing actor from within the callback. This would break the actor
-   * encapsulation and may introduce synchronization bugs and race conditions because
-   * the callback will be scheduled concurrently to the enclosing actor. Unfortunately
-   * there is not yet a way to detect these illegal accesses at compile time.
-   *
-   * <b>Recommended usage:</b>
-   *
-   * {{{
-   *   val f = worker.ask(request)(timeout)
-   *   flow {
-   *     EnrichedRequest(request, f())
-   *   } pipeTo nextActor
-   * }}}
-   *
-   * [see the [[akka.dispatch.Future]] companion object for a description of `flow`]
-   */
-  def ask(message: AnyRef)(implicit timeout: Timeout): Future[Any] = akka.pattern.ask(actorRef, message)(timeout)
-
-  /**
-   * Sends a message asynchronously and returns a [[akka.dispatch.Future]]
-   * holding the eventual reply message; this means that the target actor
-   * needs to send the result to the `sender` reference provided. The Future
-   * will be completed with an [[akka.actor.AskTimeoutException]] after the
-   * given timeout has expired; this is independent from any timeout applied
-   * while awaiting a result for this future (i.e. in
-   * `Await.result(..., timeout)`).
-   *
-   * <b>Warning:</b>
-   * When using future callbacks, inside actors you need to carefully avoid closing over
-   * the containing actor’s object, i.e. do not call methods or access mutable state
-   * on the enclosing actor from within the callback. This would break the actor
-   * encapsulation and may introduce synchronization bugs and race conditions because
-   * the callback will be scheduled concurrently to the enclosing actor. Unfortunately
-   * there is not yet a way to detect these illegal accesses at compile time.
-   *
-   * <b>Recommended usage:</b>
-   *
-   * {{{
-   *   val f = worker ? request
-   *   flow {
-   *     EnrichedRequest(request, f())
-   *   } pipeTo nextActor
-   * }}}
-   *
-   * [see the [[akka.dispatch.Future]] companion object for a description of `flow`]
-   */
-  def ?(message: Any)(implicit timeout: Timeout): Future[Any] = akka.pattern.ask(actorRef, message)
-
-  /*
-   * FIXME: I think this should be removed, since it introduces an “ambiguity” 
-   * when sending Tuple2, which the compiler resolves unexpectedly to this 
-   * method; also overloading is bad, isn’t it?  - RK (ticket #1653)
-   */
-  /**
-   * Sends a message asynchronously, returning a future which may eventually hold the reply.
-   * The implicit parameter with the default value is just there to disambiguate it from the version that takes the
-   * implicit timeout
-   */
-  def ?(message: Any, timeout: Timeout)(implicit ignore: Int = 0): Future[Any] = ?(message)(timeout)
-
-}
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/Patterns.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/Patterns.scala
index bc86877f40..9f65728517 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/Patterns.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/Patterns.scala
@@ -9,6 +9,38 @@ object Patterns {
   import akka.pattern.{ ask ⇒ scalaAsk }
   import akka.util.Timeout
 
+  /**
+   * Sends a message asynchronously and returns a [[akka.dispatch.Future]]
+   * holding the eventual reply message; this means that the target actor
+   * needs to send the result to the `sender` reference provided. The Future
+   * will be completed with an [[akka.actor.AskTimeoutException]] after the
+   * given timeout has expired; this is independent from any timeout applied
+   * while awaiting a result for this future (i.e. in
+   * `Await.result(..., timeout)`).
+   *
+   * <b>This variant will use the `akka.actor.timeout` from the configuration.</b>
+   *
+   * <b>Warning:</b>
+   * When using future callbacks, inside actors you need to carefully avoid closing over
+   * the containing actor’s object, i.e. do not call methods or access mutable state
+   * on the enclosing actor from within the callback. This would break the actor
+   * encapsulation and may introduce synchronization bugs and race conditions because
+   * the callback will be scheduled concurrently to the enclosing actor. Unfortunately
+   * there is not yet a way to detect these illegal accesses at compile time.
+   *
+   * <b>Recommended usage:</b>
+   *
+   * {{{
+   *   final Future<Object> f = Patterns.ask(worker, request, timeout);
+   *   f.onSuccess(new Procedure<Object>() {
+   *     public void apply(Object o) {
+   *       nextActor.tell(new EnrichedResult(request, o));
+   *     }
+   *   });
+   * }}}
+   */
+  def ask(actor: ActorRef, message: Any): Future[AnyRef] = scalaAsk(actor, message).asInstanceOf[Future[AnyRef]]
+
   /**
    * Sends a message asynchronously and returns a [[akka.dispatch.Future]]
    * holding the eventual reply message; this means that the target actor
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/package.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/package.scala
index bfd6384c21..5bc426a67d 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/package.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/pattern/package.scala
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ package akka
 
 package object pattern {
 
-  import akka.actor.{ ActorRef, InternalActorRef, ActorRefWithProvider, AskTimeoutException }
+  import akka.actor.{ ActorRef, InternalActorRef, ActorRefWithProvider }
   import akka.dispatch.{ Future, Promise }
   import akka.util.Timeout
 
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ package object pattern {
    *
    * All of the above use an implicit [[akka.actor.Timeout]].
    */
-  implicit def ask(actorRef: ActorRef): AskableActorRef = new AskableActorRef(actorRef)
+  implicit def ask(actorRef: ActorRef): AskSupport.AskableActorRef = new AskSupport.AskableActorRef(actorRef)
 
   /**
    * Sends a message asynchronously and returns a [[akka.dispatch.Future]]
@@ -54,15 +54,17 @@ package object pattern {
    *
    * [see [[akka.dispatch.Future]] for a description of `flow`]
    */
-  def ask(actorRef: ActorRef, message: Any)(implicit timeout: Timeout): Future[Any] = actorRef match {
+  def ask(actorRef: ActorRef, message: Any)(implicit timeout: Timeout = null): Future[Any] = actorRef match {
     case ref: ActorRefWithProvider ⇒
-      ref.provider.ask(timeout) match {
-        case Some(ref) ⇒
-          actorRef.tell(message, ref)
-          ref.result
-        case None ⇒
+      val provider = ref.provider
+      (if (timeout == null) provider.settings.ActorTimeout else timeout) match {
+        case t if t.duration.length <= 0 ⇒
           actorRef.tell(message)
-          Promise.failed(new AskTimeoutException("failed to create PromiseActorRef"))(ref.provider.dispatcher)
+          Promise.failed(new AskTimeoutException("failed to create PromiseActorRef"))(provider.dispatcher)
+        case t ⇒
+          val a = AskSupport.createAsker(provider, t)
+          actorRef.tell(message, a)
+          a.result
       }
     case _ ⇒ throw new IllegalArgumentException("incompatible ActorRef " + actorRef)
   }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala
index 11f8fee4af..c2f7faaae2 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import scala.collection.JavaConversions._
 import akka.util.{ Duration, Timeout }
 import akka.config.ConfigurationException
 import akka.dispatch.Promise
+import akka.pattern.AskSupport
 
 /**
  * A RoutedActorRef is an ActorRef that has a set of connected ActorRef and it uses a Router to
@@ -404,7 +405,7 @@ trait ScatterGatherFirstCompletedLike { this: RouterConfig ⇒
     {
       case (sender, message) ⇒
         val provider: ActorRefProvider = context.asInstanceOf[ActorCell].systemImpl.provider
-        val asker = provider.ask(Timeout(within)).get
+        val asker = AskSupport.createAsker(provider, within)
         asker.result.pipeTo(sender)
         toAll(asker, ref.routees)
     }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
index 65417d9063..fe81dc431e 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@ class RemoteActorRefProvider(
   def terminationFuture = local.terminationFuture
   def dispatcher = local.dispatcher
 
+  def registerTempActor(actorRef: InternalActorRef, path: ActorPath) = local.registerTempActor(actorRef, path)
+  def unregisterTempActor(path: ActorPath) = local.unregisterTempActor(path)
+  def tempPath() = local.tempPath()
+  def tempContainer = local.tempContainer
+
   val deployer = new RemoteDeployer(settings)
 
   val remote = new Remote(settings, remoteSettings)
@@ -138,8 +143,6 @@ class RemoteActorRefProvider(
 
   def actorFor(ref: InternalActorRef, path: Iterable[String]): InternalActorRef = local.actorFor(ref, path)
 
-  def ask(within: Timeout): Option[PromiseActorRef] = local.ask(within)
-
   /**
    * Using (checking out) actor on a specific node.
    */
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteCommunicationSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteCommunicationSpec.scala
index 4f1fb545c0..d9d815d018 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteCommunicationSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteCommunicationSpec.scala
@@ -83,8 +83,8 @@ akka {
 
     "support ask" in {
       Await.result(here ? "ping", timeout.duration) match {
-        case ("pong", s: PromiseActorRef) ⇒ // good
-        case m                            ⇒ fail(m + " was not (pong, AskActorRef)")
+        case ("pong", s: akka.pattern.AskSupport.PromiseActorRef) ⇒ // good
+        case m ⇒ fail(m + " was not (pong, AskActorRef)")
       }
     }