diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/dispatch/ExecutorBasedEventDrivenDispatcher.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/dispatch/ExecutorBasedEventDrivenDispatcher.scala
index 4962962f09..dbbfe3442a 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/dispatch/ExecutorBasedEventDrivenDispatcher.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/dispatch/ExecutorBasedEventDrivenDispatcher.scala
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ class ExecutorBasedEventDrivenDispatcher(
   def this(_name: String, throughput: Int) = this(_name, throughput, Dispatchers.MAILBOX_CAPACITY) // Needed for Java API usage
   def this(_name: String) = this(_name,Dispatchers.THROUGHPUT,Dispatchers.MAILBOX_CAPACITY) // Needed for Java API usage
 
-
+  //FIXME remove this from ThreadPoolBuilder
   mailboxCapacity = mailboxConfig.capacity
 
   @volatile private var active: Boolean = false
@@ -81,18 +81,18 @@ class ExecutorBasedEventDrivenDispatcher(
   init
 
   def dispatch(invocation: MessageInvocation) = {
-    getMailbox(invocation.receiver).add(invocation)
+    getMailbox(invocation.receiver) enqueue invocation
     dispatch(invocation.receiver)
   }
 
   /**
    * @return the mailbox associated with the actor
    */
-  private def getMailbox(receiver: ActorRef) = receiver.mailbox.asInstanceOf[Queue[MessageInvocation]]
+  private def getMailbox(receiver: ActorRef) = receiver.mailbox.asInstanceOf[MessageQueue]
 
   override def mailboxSize(actorRef: ActorRef) = getMailbox(actorRef).size
 
-  override def createMailbox(actorRef: ActorRef): AnyRef = mailboxConfig.newMailbox(bounds = mailboxCapacity)
+  override def createMailbox(actorRef: ActorRef): AnyRef = mailboxConfig.newMailbox(bounds = mailboxCapacity, blockDequeue = false)
 
   def dispatch(receiver: ActorRef): Unit = if (active) {
 
@@ -131,12 +131,12 @@ class ExecutorBasedEventDrivenDispatcher(
   def processMailbox(receiver: ActorRef): Boolean = {
     var processedMessages = 0
     val mailbox = getMailbox(receiver)
-    var messageInvocation = mailbox.poll
+    var messageInvocation = mailbox.dequeue
     while (messageInvocation != null) {
       messageInvocation.invoke
       processedMessages += 1
       // check if we simply continue with other messages, or reached the throughput limit
-      if (throughput <= 0 || processedMessages < throughput) messageInvocation = mailbox.poll
+      if (throughput <= 0 || processedMessages < throughput) messageInvocation = mailbox.dequeue
       else {
         messageInvocation = null
         return !mailbox.isEmpty
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/dispatch/MessageHandling.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/dispatch/MessageHandling.scala
index 26ca78d379..383c58905a 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/dispatch/MessageHandling.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/dispatch/MessageHandling.scala
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ class MessageQueueAppendFailedException(message: String) extends AkkaException(m
 trait MessageQueue {
   def enqueue(handle: MessageInvocation)
   def dequeue(): MessageInvocation
+  def size: Int
+  def isEmpty: Boolean
 }
 
 /* Tells the dispatcher that it should create a bounded mailbox with the specified push timeout
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/test/scala/dispatch/MailboxConfigSpec.scala b/akka-actor/src/test/scala/dispatch/MailboxConfigSpec.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..27afdbbce6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-actor/src/test/scala/dispatch/MailboxConfigSpec.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+package se.scalablesolutions.akka.actor.dispatch
+
+import org.scalatest.junit.JUnitSuite
+import org.junit.Test
+import se.scalablesolutions.akka.actor.Actor
+import Actor._
+import java.util.concurrent.{BlockingQueue, CountDownLatch, TimeUnit}
+import se.scalablesolutions.akka.util.Duration
+import se.scalablesolutions.akka.dispatch.{MessageQueueAppendFailedException, MessageInvocation, MailboxConfig, Dispatchers}
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.{AtomicReference}
+
+object MailboxConfigSpec {
+
+}
+
+class MailboxConfigSpec extends JUnitSuite {
+  import MailboxConfigSpec._
+
+  private val unit = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS
+
+  @Test def shouldCreateUnboundedQueue = {
+    val m = MailboxConfig(-1,None,false)
+    assert(m.newMailbox().asInstanceOf[BlockingQueue[MessageInvocation]].remainingCapacity === Integer.MAX_VALUE)
+  }
+
+  @Test def shouldCreateBoundedQueue = {
+    val m = MailboxConfig(1,None,false)
+    assert(m.newMailbox().asInstanceOf[BlockingQueue[MessageInvocation]].remainingCapacity === 1)
+  }
+
+  @Test(expected = classOf[MessageQueueAppendFailedException]) def shouldThrowMessageQueueAppendFailedExceptionWhenTimeOutEnqueue = {
+    val m = MailboxConfig(1,Some(Duration(1,unit)),false)
+    val testActor = actorOf( new Actor { def receive = { case _ => }} )
+    val mbox = m.newMailbox()
+    (1 to 10000) foreach { i => mbox.enqueue(new MessageInvocation(testActor,i,None,None,None)) }
+  }
+
+
+  @Test def shouldBeAbleToDequeueUnblocking = {
+    val m = MailboxConfig(1,Some(Duration(1,unit)),false)
+    val mbox = m.newMailbox()
+    val latch = new CountDownLatch(1)
+    val t = new Thread { override def run = {
+      mbox.dequeue
+      latch.countDown
+    }}
+    t.start
+    val result = latch.await(5000,unit)
+    if (!result)
+      t.interrupt
+    assert(result === true)
+  }
+}