diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/Server.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/Server.scala
index 0bafb1c712..1f18b27c8c 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/Server.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/Server.scala
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ import org.jboss.netty.bootstrap.ServerBootstrap
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelHandler.Sharable
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.group.ChannelGroup
 import org.jboss.netty.channel.socket.nio.NioServerSocketChannelFactory
-import org.jboss.netty.channel.{ StaticChannelPipeline, SimpleChannelUpstreamHandler, MessageEvent, ExceptionEvent, ChannelStateEvent, ChannelPipelineFactory, ChannelPipeline, ChannelHandlerContext, ChannelHandler, Channel }
 import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.frame.{ LengthFieldPrepender, LengthFieldBasedFrameDecoder }
 import org.jboss.netty.handler.execution.ExecutionHandler
 import akka.event.Logging
@@ -19,8 +18,7 @@ import akka.remote.{ RemoteServerShutdown, RemoteServerError, RemoteServerClient
 import akka.actor.Address
 import java.net.InetAddress
 import akka.actor.ActorSystemImpl
-import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelLocal
-import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelEvent
+import org.jboss.netty.channel._
 
 class NettyRemoteServer(val netty: NettyRemoteTransport) {
 
@@ -135,6 +133,10 @@ class RemoteServerHandler(
   val openChannels: ChannelGroup,
   val netty: NettyRemoteTransport) extends SimpleChannelUpstreamHandler {
 
+  val channelAddress = new ChannelLocal[Option[Address]](false) {
+    override def initialValue(channel: Channel) = None
+  }
+
   import netty.settings
 
   private var addressToSet = true
@@ -154,23 +156,20 @@ class RemoteServerHandler(
    */
   override def channelOpen(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = openChannels.add(ctx.getChannel)
 
-  override def channelConnected(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = {
-    val clientAddress = getClientAddress(ctx.getChannel)
-    netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerClientConnected(netty, clientAddress))
-  }
+  // TODO might want to log or otherwise signal that a TCP connection has been established here.
+  override def channelConnected(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = ()
 
   override def channelDisconnected(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = {
-    val clientAddress = getClientAddress(ctx.getChannel)
-    netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerClientDisconnected(netty, clientAddress))
+    netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerClientDisconnected(netty, channelAddress.get(ctx.getChannel)))
   }
 
-  override def channelClosed(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = getClientAddress(ctx.getChannel) match {
-    case s @ Some(address) ⇒
-      if (settings.UsePassiveConnections)
-        netty.unbindClient(address)
-      netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerClientClosed(netty, s))
-    case None ⇒
-      netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerClientClosed(netty, None))
+  override def channelClosed(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = {
+    val address = channelAddress.get(ctx.getChannel)
+    if (address.isDefined && settings.UsePassiveConnections)
+      netty.unbindClient(address.get)
+
+    netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerClientClosed(netty, address))
+    channelAddress.remove(ctx.getChannel)
   }
 
   override def messageReceived(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: MessageEvent) = try {
@@ -181,11 +180,16 @@ class RemoteServerHandler(
       case remote: AkkaRemoteProtocol if remote.hasInstruction ⇒
         val instruction = remote.getInstruction
         instruction.getCommandType match {
-          case CommandType.CONNECT if settings.UsePassiveConnections ⇒
+          case CommandType.CONNECT ⇒
             val origin = instruction.getOrigin
             val inbound = Address("akka", origin.getSystem, origin.getHostname, origin.getPort)
-            val client = new PassiveRemoteClient(event.getChannel, netty, inbound)
-            netty.bindClient(inbound, client)
+            channelAddress.set(event.getChannel, Option(inbound))
+
+            //If we want to reuse the inbound connections as outbound we need to get busy
+            if (settings.UsePassiveConnections)
+              netty.bindClient(inbound, new PassiveRemoteClient(event.getChannel, netty, inbound))
+
+            netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerClientConnected(netty, Option(inbound)))
           case CommandType.SHUTDOWN  ⇒ //Will be unbound in channelClosed
           case CommandType.HEARTBEAT ⇒ //Other guy is still alive
           case _                     ⇒ //Unknown command
@@ -200,11 +204,5 @@ class RemoteServerHandler(
     netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerError(event.getCause, netty))
     event.getChannel.close()
   }
-
-  private def getClientAddress(c: Channel): Option[Address] =
-    c.getRemoteAddress match {
-      case inet: InetSocketAddress ⇒ Some(Address("akka", "unknown(yet)", inet.getAddress.toString, inet.getPort))
-      case _                       ⇒ None
-    }
 }