diff --git a/irc.go b/irc.go
index 2b923a9..4ba006e 100644
--- a/irc.go
+++ b/irc.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 	"log"
 	"net"
 	"os"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 )
@@ -341,6 +342,15 @@ func (irc *Connection) Connect(server string) error {
 	if (len(irc.server) - 1) == strings.Index(irc.server, ":") {
 		return errors.New("port missing")
 	}
+	// check for valid range
+	ports := strings.Split(irc.server, ":")[1]
+	port, err := strconv.Atoi(ports)
+	if nil != err {
+		return errors.New("extracting port failed")
+	}
+	if !((port >= 0) && (port <= 65535)) {
+		return errors.New("port number outside valid range")
+	}
 	if nil == irc.Log {
 		return errors.New("'Log' points to nil")
 	}
@@ -351,7 +361,7 @@ func (irc *Connection) Connect(server string) error {
 		return errors.New("empty 'user'")
 	}
 
-	var err error
+//	var err error
 	if irc.UseTLS {
 		if irc.netsock, err = net.DialTimeout("tcp", irc.server, irc.Timeout); err == nil {
 			irc.socket = tls.Client(irc.netsock, irc.TLSConfig)
diff --git a/irc_test.go b/irc_test.go
index 1a8b58c..ecef112 100644
--- a/irc_test.go
+++ b/irc_test.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ func TestConnection(t *testing.T) {
 	irccon.Debug = true
 	err := irccon.Connect("irc.freenode.net:6667")
 	if err != nil {
+		t.Log(err.Error())
 		t.Fatal("Can't connect to freenode.")
 	}
 	irccon.AddCallback("001", func(e *Event) { irccon.Join("#go-eventirc") })
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ func TestConnectionSSL(t *testing.T) {
 	irccon.UseTLS = true
 	err := irccon.Connect("irc.freenode.net:7000")
 	if err != nil {
+		t.Log(err.Error())
 		t.Fatal("Can't connect to freenode.")
 	}
 	irccon.AddCallback("001", func(e *Event) { irccon.Join("#go-eventirc") })
@@ -81,6 +83,22 @@ func TestConnectionMissingPort(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestConnectionNegativePort(t *testing.T) {
+	irccon := IRC("go-eventirc", "go-eventirc")
+	err := irccon.Connect("chat.freenode.net:-1")
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("negative port number not detected")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestConnectionTooLargePort(t *testing.T) {
+	irccon := IRC("go-eventirc", "go-eventirc")
+	err := irccon.Connect("chat.freenode.net:65536")
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("too large port number not detected")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestConnectionMissingLog(t *testing.T) {
 	irccon := IRC("go-eventirc", "go-eventirc")
 	irccon.Log = nil