diff --git a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mongo-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/MongoBasedMailbox.scala b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mongo-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/MongoBasedMailbox.scala
index 5bd4c7749f..e61d7a613e 100644
--- a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mongo-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/MongoBasedMailbox.scala
+++ b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mongo-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/MongoBasedMailbox.scala
@@ -33,10 +33,15 @@ class MongoBasedNaiveMailbox(val owner: ActorRef) extends DurableExecutableMailb
   implicit val mailboxBSONSer = BSONSerializableMailbox
   implicit val safeWrite = WriteConcern.Safe // TODO - Replica Safe when appropriate!
 
-  val mongoConfig = config.getList("akka.mailbox.actor.mailbox.mongodb")// need an explicit definition in akka-conf
+  val URI_CONFIG_KEY = "akka.actor.mailbox.mongodb.uri"
+  val WRITE_TIMEOUT_KEY = "akka.actor.mailbox.mongodb.timeout.write"
+  val READ_TIMEOUT_KEY = "akka.actor.mailbox.mongodb.timeout.read"
+  val mongoURI = config.getString(URI_CONFIG_KEY)
+  val writeTimeout = config.getInt(WRITE_TIMEOUT_KEY, 3000)
+  val readTimeout = config.getInt(READ_TIMEOUT_KEY, 3000)
+  
 
-  @volatile private var db = connect() 
-  private val collName = "akka_mailbox.%s".format(name)
+  @volatile private var mongo = connect() 
 
   def enqueue(msg: MessageInvocation) = {
     EventHandler.debug(this,
@@ -44,8 +49,8 @@ class MongoBasedNaiveMailbox(val owner: ActorRef) extends DurableExecutableMailb
     /* TODO - Test if a BSON serializer is registered for the message and only if not, use toByteString? */
     val durableMessage = MongoDurableMessage(ownerAddress, msg.receiver, msg.message, msg.channel)
     // todo - do we need to filter the actor name at all for safe collection naming?
-    val result = new DefaultPromise[Boolean](10000) // give the write 10 seconds to succeed ... should we wait infinitely (does akka allow it?)
-    db.insert(collName)(durableMessage, false)(RequestFutures.write { wr: Either[Throwable, (Option[AnyRef], WriteResult)] => wr match { 
+    val result = new DefaultPromise[Boolean](writeTimeout)
+    mongo.insert(durableMessage, false)(RequestFutures.write { wr: Either[Throwable, (Option[AnyRef], WriteResult)] => wr match { 
       case Right((oid, wr)) => result.completeWithResult(true)
       case Left(t) => result.completeWithException(t)
     }})
@@ -61,8 +66,8 @@ class MongoBasedNaiveMailbox(val owner: ActorRef) extends DurableExecutableMailb
      * TODO - Should we have a specific query in place? Which way do we sort? 
      * TODO - Error handling version!
      */
-    val msgInvocation = new DefaultPromise[MessageInvocation](10000)
-    db.findAndRemove(collName)(Document.empty) { doc: Option[MongoDurableMessage] => doc match {
+    val msgInvocation = new DefaultPromise[MessageInvocation](readTimeout)
+    mongo.findAndRemove(Document.empty) { doc: Option[MongoDurableMessage] => doc match {
       case Some(msg) => {
         EventHandler.debug(this, 
           "\nDEQUEUING message in mongo-based mailbox [%s]".format(msg))
@@ -81,8 +86,8 @@ class MongoBasedNaiveMailbox(val owner: ActorRef) extends DurableExecutableMailb
   } 
 
   def size: Int = {
-    val count = new DefaultPromise[Int](10000)
-    db.count(collName)()(count.completeWithResult)
+    val count = new DefaultPromise[Int](readTimeout)
+    mongo.count()(count.completeWithResult)
     count.as[Int].getOrElse(-1)
   }
 
@@ -90,9 +95,26 @@ class MongoBasedNaiveMailbox(val owner: ActorRef) extends DurableExecutableMailb
   def isEmpty: Boolean = size == 0 //TODO review find other solution, this will be very expensive
 
   private[akka] def connect() = {
+    require(mongoURI.isDefined, "Mongo URI (%s) must be explicitly defined in akka.conf; will not assume defaults for safety sake.".format(URI_CONFIG_KEY))
+    EventHandler.info(this,
+      "\nCONNECTING mongodb { uri : [%s] } ".format(mongoURI))
+    val _dbh = MongoConnection.fromURI(mongoURI.get) match {
+      case (conn, None, None) => {
+        throw new UnsupportedOperationException("You must specify a database name to use with MongoDB; please see the MongoDB Connection URI Spec: 'http://www.mongodb.org/display/DOCS/Connections'")
+      }
+      case (conn, Some(db), Some(coll)) => {
+        EventHandler.warning(this,
+          "\nCollection name (%s) specified in MongoURI Config will be used as a prefix for mailbox names".format(coll.name))
+        db("%s.%s".format(coll.name, name))
+      }
+      case (conn, Some(db), None) => {
+        db("mailbox.%s".format(name))
+      }
+      case default => throw new IllegalArgumentException("Illegal or unexpected response from Mongo Connection URI Parser: %s".format(default))
+    }
     EventHandler.debug(this,
-      "\nCONNECTING mongodb { config: [%s] } ".format(mongoConfig))
-    MongoConnection("localhost", 27017)("akka")
+      "\nCONNECTED to mongodb { dbh: '%s | %s'} ".format(_dbh, _dbh.name))
+    _dbh
   }
 
   private def withErrorHandling[T](body: => T): T = {
@@ -100,7 +122,7 @@ class MongoBasedNaiveMailbox(val owner: ActorRef) extends DurableExecutableMailb
       body
     } catch {
       case e: Exception => {
-        db = connect()
+        mongo = connect()
         body
       }
       case e => {
diff --git a/config/akka-reference.conf b/config/akka-reference.conf
index eec01dec0e..eb8b8262c0 100644
--- a/config/akka-reference.conf
+++ b/config/akka-reference.conf
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ akka {
   time-unit = "seconds"    # Time unit for all timeout properties throughout the config
 
   event-handlers = ["akka.event.EventHandler$DefaultListener"] # Event handlers to register at boot time (EventHandler$DefaultListener logs to STDOUT)
-  event-handler-level = "DEBUG"                                 # Options: ERROR, WARNING, INFO, DEBUG
+  event-handler-level = "INFO"                                 # Options: ERROR, WARNING, INFO, DEBUG
 
   # These boot classes are loaded (and created) automatically when the Akka Microkernel boots up
   #     Can be used to bootstrap your application(s)
@@ -132,9 +132,13 @@ akka {
       }
 
       mongodb {
-        hostname = "127.0.0.1"             # IP address or hostname of the MongoDB DB instance
-        port = 27017                       # default port
-        dbname = "akka"                    # database name
+        # Any specified collection name will be used as a prefix for collections that use durable mongo mailboxes
+        uri = "mongodb://localhost/akka.mailbox"   # Follow Mongo URI Spec - http://www.mongodb.org/display/DOCS/Connections
+        # Configurable timeouts for certain ops
+        timeout {
+            read = 3000 # number of milliseconds to wait for a read to succeed before timing out the future
+            write = 3000 # number of milliseconds to wait for a write to succeed before timing out the future
+        }
       }
 
       zookeeper {