diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/SchedulerSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/SchedulerSpec.scala
index f1d2ff5655..c9a8a60138 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/SchedulerSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/SchedulerSpec.scala
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@ package akka.actor
 
 import org.scalatest.BeforeAndAfterEach
 import org.multiverse.api.latches.StandardLatch
-import java.util.concurrent.{ ConcurrentLinkedQueue, CountDownLatch, TimeUnit }
 import akka.testkit.AkkaSpec
 import akka.testkit.EventFilter
-import akka.util.Duration
+import akka.util.duration._
+import java.util.concurrent.{ CountDownLatch, ConcurrentLinkedQueue, TimeUnit }
 
 @org.junit.runner.RunWith(classOf[org.scalatest.junit.JUnitRunner])
 class SchedulerSpec extends AkkaSpec with BeforeAndAfterEach {
@@ -29,14 +29,14 @@ class SchedulerSpec extends AkkaSpec with BeforeAndAfterEach {
         def receive = { case Tick ⇒ countDownLatch.countDown() }
       })
       // run every 50 millisec
-      collectCancellable(system.scheduler.schedule(tickActor, Tick, Duration(0, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS), Duration(50, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)))
+      collectCancellable(system.scheduler.schedule(tickActor, Tick, 0 milliseconds, 50 milliseconds))
 
       // after max 1 second it should be executed at least the 3 times already
       assert(countDownLatch.await(1, TimeUnit.SECONDS))
 
       val countDownLatch2 = new CountDownLatch(3)
 
-      collectCancellable(system.scheduler.schedule(() ⇒ countDownLatch2.countDown(), Duration(0, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS), Duration(50, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)))
+      collectCancellable(system.scheduler.schedule(() ⇒ countDownLatch2.countDown(), 0 milliseconds, 50 milliseconds))
 
       // after max 1 second it should be executed at least the 3 times already
       assert(countDownLatch2.await(2, TimeUnit.SECONDS))
@@ -50,8 +50,8 @@ class SchedulerSpec extends AkkaSpec with BeforeAndAfterEach {
       })
 
       // run every 50 millisec
-      collectCancellable(system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(tickActor, Tick, Duration(50, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)))
-      collectCancellable(system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(() ⇒ countDownLatch.countDown(), Duration(50, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)))
+      collectCancellable(system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(tickActor, Tick, 50 milliseconds))
+      collectCancellable(system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(() ⇒ countDownLatch.countDown(), 50 milliseconds))
 
       // after 1 second the wait should fail
       assert(countDownLatch.await(2, TimeUnit.SECONDS) == false)
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ class SchedulerSpec extends AkkaSpec with BeforeAndAfterEach {
       })
 
       (1 to 10).foreach { i ⇒
-        val timeout = collectCancellable(system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(actor, Ping, Duration(1, TimeUnit.SECONDS)))
+        val timeout = collectCancellable(system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(actor, Ping, 1 second))
         timeout.cancel()
       }
 
@@ -115,10 +115,10 @@ class SchedulerSpec extends AkkaSpec with BeforeAndAfterEach {
       })
       val actor = (supervisor ? props).as[ActorRef].get
 
-      collectCancellable(system.scheduler.schedule(actor, Ping, Duration(500, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS), Duration(500, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)))
+      collectCancellable(system.scheduler.schedule(actor, Ping, 500 milliseconds, 500 milliseconds))
       // appx 2 pings before crash
       EventFilter[Exception]("CRASH", occurrences = 1) intercept {
-        collectCancellable(system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(actor, Crash, Duration(1000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)))
+        collectCancellable(system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(actor, Crash, 1000 milliseconds))
       }
 
       assert(restartLatch.tryAwait(2, TimeUnit.SECONDS))
@@ -142,11 +142,32 @@ class SchedulerSpec extends AkkaSpec with BeforeAndAfterEach {
       })
 
       (1 to 300).foreach { i ⇒
-        collectCancellable(system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(actor, Msg(System.nanoTime()), Duration(10, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)))
+        collectCancellable(system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(actor, Msg(System.nanoTime()), 10 milliseconds))
         Thread.sleep(5)
       }
 
       assert(ticks.await(3, TimeUnit.SECONDS) == true)
     }
+
+    "schedule with different initial delay and frequency" in {
+      val ticks = new CountDownLatch(3)
+
+      case object Msg
+
+      val actor = actorOf(new Actor {
+        def receive = {
+          case Msg ⇒ ticks.countDown()
+        }
+      })
+
+      val startTime = System.nanoTime()
+      val cancellable = system.scheduler.schedule(actor, Msg, 1 second, 100 milliseconds)
+      ticks.await(3, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
+      val elapsedTimeMs = (System.nanoTime() - startTime) / 1000000
+
+      assert(elapsedTimeMs > 1200)
+      assert(elapsedTimeMs < 1500) // the precision is not ms exact
+      cancellable.cancel()
+    }
   }
 }
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 17ed0112f0..8744e8a6d9 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/config/ConfigSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/config/ConfigSpec.scala
@@ -5,12 +5,10 @@
 package akka.config
 
 import akka.testkit.AkkaSpec
-import akka.actor.ActorSystem
-import java.io.File
 import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory
 import com.typesafe.config.ConfigParseOptions
 import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
-import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
+import akka.util.duration._
 import akka.util.Duration
 
 @org.junit.runner.RunWith(classOf[org.scalatest.junit.JUnitRunner])
@@ -37,7 +35,7 @@ class ConfigSpec extends AkkaSpec(ConfigFactory.parseResource(classOf[ConfigSpec
       getInt("akka.actor.default-dispatcher.mailbox-capacity") must equal(-1)
       getMilliseconds("akka.actor.default-dispatcher.mailbox-push-timeout-time") must equal(10 * 1000)
       getMilliseconds("akka.actor.dispatcher-shutdown-timeout") must equal(1 * 1000)
-      settings.DispatcherDefaultShutdown must equal(Duration(1, TimeUnit.SECONDS))
+      settings.DispatcherDefaultShutdown must equal(1 second)
       getInt("akka.actor.default-dispatcher.throughput") must equal(5)
       settings.DispatcherThroughput must equal(5)
       getMilliseconds("akka.actor.default-dispatcher.throughput-deadline-time") must equal(0)
diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/dispatch/MailboxConfigSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/dispatch/MailboxConfigSpec.scala
index 49fec62639..7af8f057d8 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/dispatch/MailboxConfigSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/dispatch/MailboxConfigSpec.scala
@@ -1,14 +1,8 @@
 package akka.dispatch
-import org.scalatest.WordSpec
-import org.scalatest.matchers.MustMatchers
 import org.scalatest.{ BeforeAndAfterAll, BeforeAndAfterEach }
-import org.scalatest.junit.JUnitRunner
-import org.junit.runner.RunWith
-import java.util.concurrent.{ TimeUnit, CountDownLatch, BlockingQueue }
-import java.util.{ Queue }
+import java.util.concurrent.{ TimeUnit, BlockingQueue }
 import akka.util._
-import akka.util.Duration._
-import akka.actor.{ LocalActorRef, Actor }
+import akka.util.duration._
 import akka.testkit.AkkaSpec
 
 @org.junit.runner.RunWith(classOf[org.scalatest.junit.JUnitRunner])
@@ -23,7 +17,7 @@ abstract class MailboxSpec extends AkkaSpec with BeforeAndAfterAll with BeforeAn
       val q = factory(config)
       ensureInitialMailboxState(config, q)
 
-      implicit val within = Duration(1, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
+      implicit val within = 1 second
 
       val f = spawn {
         q.dequeue
@@ -33,7 +27,7 @@ abstract class MailboxSpec extends AkkaSpec with BeforeAndAfterAll with BeforeAn
     }
 
     "create a bounded mailbox with 10 capacity and with push timeout" in {
-      val config = BoundedMailbox(10, Duration(10, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS))
+      val config = BoundedMailbox(10, 10 milliseconds)
       val q = factory(config)
       ensureInitialMailboxState(config, q)
 
@@ -58,11 +52,11 @@ abstract class MailboxSpec extends AkkaSpec with BeforeAndAfterAll with BeforeAn
     }
 
     "dequeue what was enqueued properly for bounded mailboxes" in {
-      testEnqueueDequeue(BoundedMailbox(10000, Duration(-1, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)))
+      testEnqueueDequeue(BoundedMailbox(10000, -1 millisecond))
     }
 
     "dequeue what was enqueued properly for bounded mailboxes with pushTimeout" in {
-      testEnqueueDequeue(BoundedMailbox(10000, Duration(100, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)))
+      testEnqueueDequeue(BoundedMailbox(10000, 100 milliseconds))
     }
   }
 
@@ -97,7 +91,7 @@ abstract class MailboxSpec extends AkkaSpec with BeforeAndAfterAll with BeforeAn
   }
 
   def testEnqueueDequeue(config: MailboxType) {
-    implicit val within = Duration(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
+    implicit val within = 10 seconds
     val q = factory(config)
     ensureInitialMailboxState(config, q)
 
diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/performance/microbench/TellThroughputPerformanceSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/performance/microbench/TellThroughputPerformanceSpec.scala
index 75aef7708f..a49e837ac4 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/performance/microbench/TellThroughputPerformanceSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/performance/microbench/TellThroughputPerformanceSpec.scala
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 package akka.performance.microbench
 
 import akka.performance.workbench.PerformanceSpec
-import org.apache.commons.math.stat.descriptive.DescriptiveStatistics
 import akka.actor._
 import java.util.concurrent.{ ThreadPoolExecutor, CountDownLatch, TimeUnit }
 import akka.dispatch._
-import java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.AbortPolicy
 import akka.util.Duration
+import akka.util.duration._
 
 // -server -Xms512M -Xmx1024M -XX:+UseParallelGC -Dbenchmark=true -Dbenchmark.repeatFactor=500
 @org.junit.runner.RunWith(classOf[org.scalatest.junit.JUnitRunner])
@@ -15,7 +14,7 @@ class TellThroughputPerformanceSpec extends PerformanceSpec {
 
   def createDispatcher(name: String) = ThreadPoolConfigDispatcherBuilder(config ⇒
     new Dispatcher(system.dispatcherFactory.prerequisites, name, 5,
-      Duration.Zero, UnboundedMailbox(), config, Duration(60, TimeUnit.SECONDS)), ThreadPoolConfig())
+      Duration.Zero, UnboundedMailbox(), config, 60 seconds), ThreadPoolConfig())
     .withNewThreadPoolWithLinkedBlockingQueueWithUnboundedCapacity
     .setCorePoolSize(maxClients)
     .build
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/resources/akka-actor-reference.conf b/akka-actor/src/main/resources/akka-actor-reference.conf
index 9bc6fd77ce..b82ab3e4b3 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/resources/akka-actor-reference.conf
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/resources/akka-actor-reference.conf
@@ -218,9 +218,14 @@ akka {
   # Changing the default values may change the system behavior drastically so make sure you know what you're doing!
   #
   scheduler {
-    # The HashedWheelTimer implementation from Jetty is used as the default scheduler in the system.
-    # See http://www.jboss.org/netty/
-    tickDuration = 100ms    # tick duration in milliseconds (should always be defined in milliseconds)
+    # The HashedWheelTimer (HWT) implementation from Jetty is used as the default scheduler in the system.
+    #
+    # HWT does not execute the scheduled tasks on exact time.
+    # It will, on every tick, check if there are any tasks behind the schedule and execute them.
+    # You can increase or decrease the accuracy of the execution timing by specifying smaller or larger tick duration.
+    # If you are scheduling a lot of tasks you should consider increasing the ticks per wheel.
+    # For more information see: http://www.jboss.org/netty/
+    tickDuration = 100ms
     ticksPerWheel = 512
   }
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
index 2b93450a44..a69c08c4e2 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
@@ -411,6 +411,9 @@ class DefaultScheduler(hashedWheelTimer: HashedWheelTimer) extends Scheduler {
   private def createSingleTask(receiver: ActorRef, message: Any): TimerTask =
     new TimerTask { def run(timeout: org.jboss.netty.akka.util.Timeout) { receiver ! message } }
 
+  private def createSingleTask(f: () ⇒ Unit): TimerTask =
+    new TimerTask { def run(timeout: org.jboss.netty.akka.util.Timeout) { f() } }
+
   private def createContinuousTask(receiver: ActorRef, message: Any, delay: Duration): TimerTask = {
     new TimerTask {
       def run(timeout: org.jboss.netty.akka.util.Timeout) {
@@ -420,9 +423,6 @@ class DefaultScheduler(hashedWheelTimer: HashedWheelTimer) extends Scheduler {
     }
   }
 
-  private def createSingleTask(f: () ⇒ Unit): TimerTask =
-    new TimerTask { def run(timeout: org.jboss.netty.akka.util.Timeout) { f() } }
-
   private def createContinuousTask(f: () ⇒ Unit, delay: Duration): TimerTask = {
     new TimerTask {
       def run(timeout: org.jboss.netty.akka.util.Timeout) {
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/FSM.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/FSM.scala
index d94bf45707..76495843fc 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/FSM.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/FSM.scala
@@ -34,9 +34,9 @@ object FSM {
 
     def schedule(actor: ActorRef, timeout: Duration) {
       if (repeat) {
-        ref = Some(system.scheduler.schedule(actor, this, Duration(timeout.length, timeout.unit), Duration(timeout.length, timeout.unit)))
+        ref = Some(system.scheduler.schedule(actor, this, timeout, timeout))
       } else {
-        ref = Some(system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(actor, this, Duration(timeout.length, timeout.unit)))
+        ref = Some(system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(actor, this, timeout))
       }
     }
 
@@ -523,7 +523,7 @@ trait FSM[S, D] extends ListenerManagement {
       if (timeout.isDefined) {
         val t = timeout.get
         if (t.finite_? && t.length >= 0) {
-          timeoutFuture = Some(system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(self, TimeoutMarker(generation), Duration(t.length, t.unit)))
+          timeoutFuture = Some(system.scheduler.scheduleOnce(self, TimeoutMarker(generation), t))
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Scheduler.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Scheduler.scala
index 3263f7a5c9..52a63f1730 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Scheduler.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Scheduler.scala
@@ -15,14 +15,44 @@ package akka.actor
 import akka.util.Duration
 
 trait Scheduler {
-  def schedule(receiver: ActorRef, message: Any, initialDelay: Duration, delay: Duration): Cancellable
-  def schedule(f: () ⇒ Unit, initialDelay: Duration, delay: Duration): Cancellable
+  /**
+   * Schedules a message to be sent repeatedly with an initial delay and frequency.
+   * E.g. if you would like a message to be sent immediately and thereafter every 500ms you would set
+   * delay = Duration.Zero and frequency = Duration(500, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+   */
+  def schedule(receiver: ActorRef, message: Any, initialDelay: Duration, frequency: Duration): Cancellable
+
+  /**
+   * Schedules a function to be run repeatedly with an initial delay and a frequency.
+   * E.g. if you would like the function to be run after 2 seconds and thereafter every 100ms you would set
+   * delay = Duration(2, TimeUnit.SECONDS) and frequency = Duration(100, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+   */
+  def schedule(f: () ⇒ Unit, initialDelay: Duration, frequency: Duration): Cancellable
+
+  /**
+   * Schedules a Runnable to be run once with a delay, i.e. a time period that has to pass before the runnable is executed.
+   */
   def scheduleOnce(runnable: Runnable, delay: Duration): Cancellable
+
+  /**
+   * Schedules a message to be sent once with a delay, i.e. a time period that has to pass before the message is sent.
+   */
   def scheduleOnce(receiver: ActorRef, message: Any, delay: Duration): Cancellable
+
+  /**
+   * Schedules a function to be run once with a delay, i.e. a time period that has to pass before the function is run.
+   */
   def scheduleOnce(f: () ⇒ Unit, delay: Duration): Cancellable
 }
 
 trait Cancellable {
+  /**
+   * Cancels the underlying scheduled task.
+   */
   def cancel(): Unit
+
+  /**
+   * Checks if the underlying scheduled task has been cancelled.
+   */
   def isCancelled: Boolean
 }
\ No newline at end of file