diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/config/ConfigSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/config/ConfigSpec.scala
index 5fe3466b25..56f8cd45fc 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/config/ConfigSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/config/ConfigSpec.scala
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ class ConfigSpec extends AkkaSpec(ConfigFactory.defaultReference(ActorSystem.fin
 
         getBoolean("akka.jvm-exit-on-fatal-error") must be(true)
         settings.JvmExitOnFatalError must be(true)
+
+        getInt("akka.actor.deployment.default.virtual-nodes-factor") must be(10)
+        settings.DefaultVirtualNodesFactor must be(10)
       }
 
       {
diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/routing/ConsistentHashingRouterSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/routing/ConsistentHashingRouterSpec.scala
index fd7a49e867..7a28190523 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/routing/ConsistentHashingRouterSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/routing/ConsistentHashingRouterSpec.scala
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ object ConsistentHashingRouterSpec {
       /router1 {
         router = consistent-hashing
         nr-of-instances = 3
+        virtual-nodes-factor = 17
       }
     }
     """
@@ -55,18 +56,12 @@ class ConsistentHashingRouterSpec extends AkkaSpec(ConsistentHashingRouterSpec.c
     "select destination based on consistentHashKey of the message" in {
       router1 ! Msg("a", "A")
       val destinationA = expectMsgPF(remaining) { case ref: ActorRef ⇒ ref }
-      router1 ! new ConsistentHashableEnvelope {
-        override def consistentHashKey = "a"
-        override def message = "AA"
-      }
+      router1 ! ConsistentHashableEnvelope(message = "AA", consistentHashKey = "a")
       expectMsg(destinationA)
 
       router1 ! Msg(17, "B")
       val destinationB = expectMsgPF(remaining) { case ref: ActorRef ⇒ ref }
-      router1 ! new ConsistentHashableEnvelope {
-        override def consistentHashKey = 17
-        override def message = "BB"
-      }
+      router1 ! ConsistentHashableEnvelope(message = "BB", consistentHashKey = 17)
       expectMsg(destinationB)
 
       router1 ! Msg(MsgKey("c"), "C")
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/akka-actor/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index a585fe3406..163d2e83d9 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ akka {
 
   # Event handlers to register at boot time (Logging$DefaultLogger logs to STDOUT)
   event-handlers = ["akka.event.Logging$DefaultLogger"]
-  
+
   # Event handlers are created and registered synchronously during ActorSystem
   # start-up, and since they are actors, this timeout is used to bound the
   # waiting time
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ akka {
     # FQCN of the ActorRefProvider to be used; the below is the built-in default,
     # another one is akka.remote.RemoteActorRefProvider in the akka-remote bundle.
     provider = "akka.actor.LocalActorRefProvider"
-    
+
     # The guardian "/user" will use this subclass of akka.actor.SupervisorStrategyConfigurator
     # to obtain its supervisorStrategy. Besides the default there is
     # akka.actor.StoppingSupervisorStrategy
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ akka {
     # Serializes and deserializes creators (in Props) to ensure that they can be sent over the network,
     # this is only intended for testing.
     serialize-creators = off
-    
+
     # Timeout for send operations to top-level actors which are in the process of being started.
     # This is only relevant if using a bounded mailbox or the CallingThreadDispatcher for a top-level actor.
     unstarted-push-timeout = 10s
@@ -108,6 +108,9 @@ akka {
         # within is the timeout used for routers containing future calls
         within = 5 seconds
 
+        # number of virtual nodes per node for consistent-hashing router
+        virtual-nodes-factor = 10
+
         routees {
           # Alternatively to giving nr-of-instances you can specify the full
           # paths of those actors which should be routed to. This setting takes
@@ -296,7 +299,7 @@ akka {
 
       # enable DEBUG logging of subscription changes on the eventStream
       event-stream = off
-      
+
       # enable DEBUG logging of unhandled messages
       unhandled = off
 
@@ -318,13 +321,13 @@ akka {
     serialization-bindings {
       "java.io.Serializable" = java
     }
-    
+
     # Configuration items which are used by the akka.actor.ActorDSL._ methods
     dsl {
       # Maximum queue size of the actor created by newInbox(); this protects against
       # faulty programs which use select() and consistently miss messages
       inbox-size = 1000
-      
+
       # Default timeout to assume for operations like Inbox.receive et al
       default-timeout = 5s
     }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
index bce966b99e..deec7697df 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
@@ -166,6 +166,8 @@ object ActorSystem {
     final val Daemonicity: Boolean = getBoolean("akka.daemonic")
     final val JvmExitOnFatalError: Boolean = getBoolean("akka.jvm-exit-on-fatal-error")
 
+    final val DefaultVirtualNodesFactor: Int = getInt("akka.actor.deployment.default.virtual-nodes-factor")
+
     if (ConfigVersion != Version)
       throw new akka.ConfigurationException("Akka JAR version [" + Version + "] does not match the provided config version [" + ConfigVersion + "]")
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Deployer.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Deployer.scala
index be9da1a505..3f5e2b1785 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Deployer.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Deployer.scala
@@ -143,18 +143,20 @@ private[akka] class Deployer(val settings: ActorSystem.Settings, val dynamicAcce
 
     val nrOfInstances = deployment.getInt("nr-of-instances")
 
-    val within = Duration(deployment.getMilliseconds("within"), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
-
     val resizer: Option[Resizer] = if (config.hasPath("resizer")) Some(DefaultResizer(deployment.getConfig("resizer"))) else None
 
     val router: RouterConfig = deployment.getString("router") match {
-      case "from-code"          ⇒ NoRouter
-      case "round-robin"        ⇒ RoundRobinRouter(nrOfInstances, routees, resizer)
-      case "random"             ⇒ RandomRouter(nrOfInstances, routees, resizer)
-      case "smallest-mailbox"   ⇒ SmallestMailboxRouter(nrOfInstances, routees, resizer)
-      case "scatter-gather"     ⇒ ScatterGatherFirstCompletedRouter(nrOfInstances, routees, within, resizer)
-      case "broadcast"          ⇒ BroadcastRouter(nrOfInstances, routees, resizer)
-      case "consistent-hashing" ⇒ ConsistentHashingRouter(nrOfInstances, routees, resizer)
+      case "from-code"        ⇒ NoRouter
+      case "round-robin"      ⇒ RoundRobinRouter(nrOfInstances, routees, resizer)
+      case "random"           ⇒ RandomRouter(nrOfInstances, routees, resizer)
+      case "smallest-mailbox" ⇒ SmallestMailboxRouter(nrOfInstances, routees, resizer)
+      case "broadcast"        ⇒ BroadcastRouter(nrOfInstances, routees, resizer)
+      case "scatter-gather" ⇒
+        val within = Duration(deployment.getMilliseconds("within"), TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+        ScatterGatherFirstCompletedRouter(nrOfInstances, routees, within, resizer)
+      case "consistent-hashing" ⇒
+        val vnodes = deployment.getInt("virtual-nodes-factor")
+        ConsistentHashingRouter(nrOfInstances, routees, resizer, virtualNodesFactor = vnodes)
       case fqn ⇒
         val args = Seq(classOf[Config] -> deployment)
         dynamicAccess.createInstanceFor[RouterConfig](fqn, args).recover({
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/ConsistentHash.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/ConsistentHash.scala
index 5dc23f1383..19e457a762 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/ConsistentHash.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/ConsistentHash.scala
@@ -20,23 +20,22 @@ import scala.collection.immutable.TreeMap
  * hash, i.e. make sure it is different for different nodes.
  *
  */
-class ConsistentHash[T] private (replicas: Int, ring: TreeMap[Int, T]) {
+class ConsistentHash[T] private (nodeRing: TreeMap[Int, T], virtualNodesFactor: Int) {
 
   import ConsistentHash._
 
-  if (replicas < 1) throw new IllegalArgumentException("replicas must be >= 1")
+  if (virtualNodesFactor < 1) throw new IllegalArgumentException("virtualNodesFactor must be >= 1")
 
   /**
-   * Adds a node to the ring.
+   * Adds a node to the node ring.
    * Note that the instance is immutable and this
    * operation returns a new instance.
    */
-  def :+(node: T): ConsistentHash[T] = {
-    new ConsistentHash(replicas, ring ++ ((1 to replicas) map { r ⇒ (nodeHashFor(node, r) -> node) }))
-  }
+  def :+(node: T): ConsistentHash[T] =
+    new ConsistentHash(nodeRing ++ ((1 to virtualNodesFactor) map { r ⇒ (nodeHashFor(node, r) -> node) }), virtualNodesFactor)
 
   /**
-   * Adds a node to the ring.
+   * Adds a node to the node ring.
    * Note that the instance is immutable and this
    * operation returns a new instance.
    * JAVA API
@@ -44,16 +43,15 @@ class ConsistentHash[T] private (replicas: Int, ring: TreeMap[Int, T]) {
   def add(node: T): ConsistentHash[T] = this :+ node
 
   /**
-   * Removes a node from the ring.
+   * Removes a node from the node ring.
    * Note that the instance is immutable and this
    * operation returns a new instance.
    */
-  def :-(node: T): ConsistentHash[T] = {
-    new ConsistentHash(replicas, ring -- ((1 to replicas) map { r ⇒ nodeHashFor(node, r) }))
-  }
+  def :-(node: T): ConsistentHash[T] =
+    new ConsistentHash(nodeRing -- ((1 to virtualNodesFactor) map { r ⇒ nodeHashFor(node, r) }), virtualNodesFactor)
 
   /**
-   * Removes a node from the ring.
+   * Removes a node from the node ring.
    * Note that the instance is immutable and this
    * operation returns a new instance.
    * JAVA API
@@ -62,49 +60,42 @@ class ConsistentHash[T] private (replicas: Int, ring: TreeMap[Int, T]) {
 
   /**
    * Get the node responsible for the data key.
-   * Can only be used if nodes exists in the ring,
+   * Can only be used if nodes exists in the node ring,
    * otherwise throws `IllegalStateException`
    */
   def nodeFor(key: Array[Byte]): T = {
-    if (isEmpty) throw new IllegalStateException("Can't get node for [%s] from an empty ring" format key)
+    if (isEmpty) throw new IllegalStateException("Can't get node for [%s] from an empty node ring" format key)
     val hash = hashFor(key)
-    def nextClockwise: T = {
-      val (ringKey, node) = ring.rangeImpl(Some(hash), None).headOption.getOrElse(ring.head)
-      node
-    }
-    ring.getOrElse(hash, nextClockwise)
+    // find the next node clockwise in the nodeRing, pick first if end of tree
+    nodeRing.rangeImpl(Some(hash), None).headOption.getOrElse(nodeRing.head)._2
   }
 
   /**
-   * Is the ring empty, i.e. no nodes added or all removed.
+   * Is the node ring empty, i.e. no nodes added or all removed.
    */
-  def isEmpty: Boolean = ring.isEmpty
+  def isEmpty: Boolean = nodeRing.isEmpty
 
 }
 
 object ConsistentHash {
-  def apply[T](nodes: Iterable[T], replicas: Int) = {
-    new ConsistentHash(replicas, TreeMap.empty[Int, T] ++
-      (for (node ← nodes; replica ← 1 to replicas) yield (nodeHashFor(node, replica) -> node)))
+  def apply[T](nodes: Iterable[T], virtualNodesFactor: Int) = {
+    new ConsistentHash(TreeMap.empty[Int, T] ++
+      (for (node ← nodes; vnode ← 1 to virtualNodesFactor) yield (nodeHashFor(node, vnode) -> node)),
+      virtualNodesFactor)
   }
 
   /**
    * Factory method to create a ConsistentHash
    * JAVA API
    */
-  def create[T](nodes: java.lang.Iterable[T], replicas: Int) = {
+  def create[T](nodes: java.lang.Iterable[T], virtualNodesFactor: Int) = {
     import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
-    apply(nodes.asScala, replicas)
+    apply(nodes.asScala, virtualNodesFactor)
   }
 
-  private def nodeHashFor(node: Any, replica: Int): Int = {
-    hashFor((node + ":" + replica).getBytes("UTF-8"))
-  }
+  private def nodeHashFor(node: Any, vnode: Int): Int =
+    hashFor((node + ":" + vnode).getBytes("UTF-8"))
 
-  private def hashFor(bytes: Array[Byte]): Int = {
-    val hash = MurmurHash.arrayHash(bytes)
-    if (hash == Int.MinValue) hash + 1
-    math.abs(hash)
-  }
+  private def hashFor(bytes: Array[Byte]): Int = MurmurHash.arrayHash(bytes)
 }
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/ConsistentHashingRouter.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/ConsistentHashingRouter.scala
index eba812ac60..e177fc413a 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/ConsistentHashingRouter.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/ConsistentHashingRouter.scala
@@ -5,13 +5,13 @@ package akka.routing
 
 import scala.collection.JavaConversions.iterableAsScalaIterable
 import scala.util.control.NonFatal
-
 import akka.actor.ActorRef
 import akka.actor.SupervisorStrategy
 import akka.actor.Props
 import akka.dispatch.Dispatchers
 import akka.event.Logging
 import akka.serialization.SerializationExtension
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference
 
 object ConsistentHashingRouter {
   /**
@@ -46,19 +46,13 @@ object ConsistentHashingRouter {
 
   /**
    * If messages can't implement [[akka.routing.ConsistentHashable]]
-   * themselves they can we wrapped by something implementing
-   * this interface instead. The router will only send the
-   * wrapped message to the destination, i.e. the envelope will
-   * be stripped off.
+   * themselves they can we wrapped by this envelope instead. The
+   * router will only send the wrapped message to the destination,
+   * i.e. the envelope will be stripped off.
    */
-  trait ConsistentHashableEnvelope extends ConsistentHashable with RouterEnvelope {
-    def message: Any
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * Default number of replicas (virtual nodes) used in [[akka.routing.ConsistantHash]]
-   */
-  val DefaultReplicas: Int = 10
+  @SerialVersionUID(1L)
+  case class ConsistentHashableEnvelope(message: Any, consistentHashKey: Any)
+    extends ConsistentHashable with RouterEnvelope
 
 }
 /**
@@ -88,14 +82,14 @@ object ConsistentHashingRouter {
  *
  * @param routees string representation of the actor paths of the routees that will be looked up
  *   using `actorFor` in [[akka.actor.ActorRefProvider]]
- * @param replicas number of replicas (virtual nodes) used in [[akka.routing.ConsistantHash]]
+ * @param virtualNodesFactor number of virtual nodes per node, used in [[akka.routing.ConsistantHash]]
  */
 @SerialVersionUID(1L)
 case class ConsistentHashingRouter(
   nrOfInstances: Int = 0, routees: Iterable[String] = Nil, override val resizer: Option[Resizer] = None,
   val routerDispatcher: String = Dispatchers.DefaultDispatcherId,
   val supervisorStrategy: SupervisorStrategy = Router.defaultSupervisorStrategy,
-  val replicas: Int = ConsistentHashingRouter.DefaultReplicas)
+  val virtualNodesFactor: Int = 0)
   extends RouterConfig with ConsistentHashingLike {
 
   /**
@@ -130,9 +124,9 @@ case class ConsistentHashingRouter(
   def withSupervisorStrategy(strategy: SupervisorStrategy): ConsistentHashingRouter = copy(supervisorStrategy = strategy)
 
   /**
-   * Java API for setting the number of replicas (virtual nodes) used in [[akka.routing.ConsistantHash]]
+   * Java API for setting the number of virtual nodes per node, used in [[akka.routing.ConsistantHash]]
    */
-  def withReplicas(replicas: Int): ConsistentHashingRouter = copy(replicas = replicas)
+  def withVirtualNodesFactor(vnodes: Int): ConsistentHashingRouter = copy(virtualNodesFactor = vnodes)
 
   /**
    * Uses the resizer of the given RouterConfig if this RouterConfig
@@ -145,6 +139,10 @@ case class ConsistentHashingRouter(
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * The core pieces of the routing logic is located in this
+ * trait to be able to extend.
+ */
 trait ConsistentHashingLike { this: RouterConfig ⇒
 
   import ConsistentHashingRouter._
@@ -153,7 +151,7 @@ trait ConsistentHashingLike { this: RouterConfig ⇒
 
   def routees: Iterable[String]
 
-  def replicas: Int
+  def virtualNodesFactor: Int
 
   override def createRoute(routeeProvider: RouteeProvider): Route = {
     if (resizer.isEmpty) {
@@ -162,20 +160,25 @@ trait ConsistentHashingLike { this: RouterConfig ⇒
     }
 
     val log = Logging(routeeProvider.context.system, routeeProvider.context.self)
+    val vnodes =
+      if (virtualNodesFactor == 0) routeeProvider.context.system.settings.DefaultVirtualNodesFactor
+      else virtualNodesFactor
 
-    // consistentHashRoutees and consistentHash are updated together, synchronized on the consistentHashLock
-    val consistentHashLock = new Object
-    var consistentHashRoutees: IndexedSeq[ActorRef] = null
-    var consistentHash: ConsistentHash[ActorRef] = null
-    upateConsistentHash()
+    var consistentHashRoutees = new AtomicReference[IndexedSeq[ActorRef]]
+    @volatile var consistentHash: ConsistentHash[ActorRef] = null
+    updateConsistentHash()
 
     // update consistentHash when routees has changed
     // changes to routees are rare and when no changes this is a quick operation
-    def upateConsistentHash(): ConsistentHash[ActorRef] = consistentHashLock.synchronized {
+    def updateConsistentHash(): ConsistentHash[ActorRef] = {
       val currentRoutees = routeeProvider.routees
-      if ((currentRoutees ne consistentHashRoutees) && currentRoutees != consistentHashRoutees) {
-        consistentHashRoutees = currentRoutees
-        consistentHash = ConsistentHash(currentRoutees, replicas)
+      if (currentRoutees ne consistentHashRoutees.get) {
+        val oldConsistentHashRoutees = consistentHashRoutees.get
+        val rehash = currentRoutees != oldConsistentHashRoutees
+        // when other instance, same content, no need to re-hash, but try to set currentRoutees
+        // ignore, don't update, in case of CAS failure
+        if (consistentHashRoutees.compareAndSet(oldConsistentHashRoutees, currentRoutees) && rehash)
+          consistentHash = ConsistentHash(currentRoutees, vnodes)
       }
       consistentHash
     }
@@ -186,13 +189,13 @@ trait ConsistentHashingLike { this: RouterConfig ⇒
         case str: String        ⇒ str.getBytes("UTF-8")
         case x: AnyRef          ⇒ SerializationExtension(routeeProvider.context.system).serialize(x).get
       }
-      val currentConsistenHash = upateConsistentHash()
+      val currentConsistenHash = updateConsistentHash()
       if (currentConsistenHash.isEmpty) routeeProvider.context.system.deadLetters
       else currentConsistenHash.nodeFor(hash)
     } catch {
       case NonFatal(e) ⇒
         // serialization failed
-        log.warning("Couldn't route message with consistentHashKey [%s] due to [%s]".format(hashData, e.getMessage))
+        log.warning("Couldn't route message with consistentHashKey [{}] due to [{}]", hashData, e.getMessage)
         routeeProvider.context.system.deadLetters
     }
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala
index 9e17bf2b9a..da3c439c4d 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/routing/Routing.scala
@@ -596,6 +596,10 @@ case class RoundRobinRouter(nrOfInstances: Int = 0, routees: Iterable[String] =
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * The core pieces of the routing logic is located in this
+ * trait to be able to extend.
+ */
 trait RoundRobinLike { this: RouterConfig ⇒
 
   def nrOfInstances: Int
@@ -729,6 +733,10 @@ case class RandomRouter(nrOfInstances: Int = 0, routees: Iterable[String] = Nil,
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * The core pieces of the routing logic is located in this
+ * trait to be able to extend.
+ */
 trait RandomLike { this: RouterConfig ⇒
   def nrOfInstances: Int
 
@@ -869,6 +877,10 @@ case class SmallestMailboxRouter(nrOfInstances: Int = 0, routees: Iterable[Strin
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * The core pieces of the routing logic is located in this
+ * trait to be able to extend.
+ */
 trait SmallestMailboxLike { this: RouterConfig ⇒
   def nrOfInstances: Int
 
@@ -1084,6 +1096,10 @@ case class BroadcastRouter(nrOfInstances: Int = 0, routees: Iterable[String] = N
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * The core pieces of the routing logic is located in this
+ * trait to be able to extend.
+ */
 trait BroadcastLike { this: RouterConfig ⇒
 
   def nrOfInstances: Int
@@ -1213,6 +1229,10 @@ case class ScatterGatherFirstCompletedRouter(nrOfInstances: Int = 0, routees: It
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * The core pieces of the routing logic is located in this
+ * trait to be able to extend.
+ */
 trait ScatterGatherFirstCompletedLike { this: RouterConfig ⇒
 
   def nrOfInstances: Int
diff --git a/akka-docs/scala/code/docs/routing/RouterViaConfigDocSpec.scala b/akka-docs/scala/code/docs/routing/RouterViaConfigDocSpec.scala
index 265b0f8361..24dc291087 100644
--- a/akka-docs/scala/code/docs/routing/RouterViaConfigDocSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-docs/scala/code/docs/routing/RouterViaConfigDocSpec.scala
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ object RouterWithConfigDocSpec {
       /myrouter7 {
         router = consistent-hashing
         nr-of-instances = 5
+        virtual-nodes-factor = 10
       }
     }
     //#config-consistent-hashing