diff --git a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/remote/RemoteErrorHandlingTest.scala b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/remote/RemoteErrorHandlingNetworkTest.scala
similarity index 95%
rename from akka-remote/src/test/scala/remote/RemoteErrorHandlingTest.scala
rename to akka-remote/src/test/scala/remote/RemoteErrorHandlingNetworkTest.scala
index f3b89172e3..03574a2dc3 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/remote/RemoteErrorHandlingTest.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/remote/RemoteErrorHandlingNetworkTest.scala
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import akka.actor.{ActorRef, Actor}
 import akka.util.duration._
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean
 
-object RemoteErrorHandlingTest {
+object RemoteErrorHandlingNetworkTest {
   case class Send(actor: ActorRef)
 
   class RemoteActorSpecActorUnidirectional extends Actor {
@@ -50,8 +50,8 @@ object RemoteErrorHandlingTest {
   }
 }
 
-class RemoteErrorHandlingTest extends AkkaRemoteTest with NetworkFailureTest {
-  import RemoteErrorHandlingTest._
+class RemoteErrorHandlingNetworkTest extends AkkaRemoteTest with NetworkFailureTest {
+  import RemoteErrorHandlingNetworkTest._
 
   "Remote actors" should {
 
diff --git a/project/build/AkkaProject.scala b/project/build/AkkaProject.scala
index 4b59c401cb..f33a916da9 100644
--- a/project/build/AkkaProject.scala
+++ b/project/build/AkkaProject.scala
@@ -346,7 +346,13 @@ class AkkaParentProject(info: ProjectInfo) extends DefaultProject(info) {
     val junit     = Dependencies.junit
     val scalatest = Dependencies.scalatest
 
-    override def testOptions = createTestFilter( _.endsWith("Spec"))
+    lazy val networkTestsEnabled = systemOptional[Boolean]("akka.test.network", false)
+
+    override def testOptions = super.testOptions ++ {
+      if (!networkTestsEnabled.value) Seq(TestFilter(test => !test.endsWith("NetworkTest")))
+      else Seq.empty
+    }
+
     override def bndImportPackage = "javax.transaction;version=1.1" :: super.bndImportPackage.toList
   }