diff --git a/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/ClusterSettings.swift b/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/ClusterSettings.swift
index 59b365b3e..2986ef50d 100644
--- a/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/ClusterSettings.swift
+++ b/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/ClusterSettings.swift
@@ -63,6 +63,9 @@ public struct ClusterSettings {
         return UniqueNode(node: self.node, nid: self.nid)
     }
 
+    /// Time after which a connection attempt will fail if no connection could be established
+    public var connectTimeout: TimeAmount = .milliseconds(500)
+
     /// Backoff to be applied when attempting a new connection and handshake with a remote system.
     public var handshakeBackoffStrategy: BackoffStrategy = Backoff.exponential(initialInterval: .milliseconds(100))
 
diff --git a/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/ClusterShell.swift b/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/ClusterShell.swift
index 2b538568d..def8d0877 100644
--- a/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/ClusterShell.swift
+++ b/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/ClusterShell.swift
@@ -389,7 +389,9 @@ extension ClusterShell {
             serializationPool: self.serializationPool
         )
 
-        return context.awaitResult(of: outboundChanElf, timeout: .milliseconds(500)) { result in
+        // the timeout is being handled by the `connectTimeout` socket option
+        // in NIO, so it is safe to use an infinite timeout here
+        return context.awaitResult(of: outboundChanElf, timeout: .effectivelyInfinite) { result in
             switch result {
             case .success(let chan):
                 return self.ready(state: state.onHandshakeChannelConnected(initiated: initiated, channel: chan))
@@ -482,8 +484,6 @@ extension ClusterShell {
                 }
             }
 
-            state._handshakes[remoteNode] = .initiated(initiated)
-
         case .wasOfferedHandshake(let state):
             preconditionFailure("Outbound connection error should never happen on receiving end. State was: [\(state)], error was: \(error)")
         case .completed(let state):
diff --git a/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/ClusterShellState.swift b/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/ClusterShellState.swift
index 59033d5b3..93d30fe5e 100644
--- a/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/ClusterShellState.swift
+++ b/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/ClusterShellState.swift
@@ -178,7 +178,6 @@ extension ClusterShellState {
 
         switch state {
         case .initiated(let initiated):
-            assert(initiated.channel != nil, "Channel should always be present after the initial initialization, state was: \(state)")
             _ = initiated.channel?.close()
         case .wasOfferedHandshake:
             fatalError("abortOutgoingHandshake was called in a context where the handshake was not an outgoing one! Was: \(state)")
diff --git a/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/TransportPipelines.swift b/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/TransportPipelines.swift
index b24162606..4c80405f6 100644
--- a/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/TransportPipelines.swift
+++ b/Sources/DistributedActors/Cluster/TransportPipelines.swift
@@ -707,6 +707,7 @@ extension ClusterShell {
 
         let bootstrap = ClientBootstrap(group: group)
             .channelOption(ChannelOptions.socket(SocketOptionLevel(SOL_SOCKET), SO_REUSEADDR), value: 1)
+            .channelOption(ChannelOptions.connectTimeout, value: settings.connectTimeout.toNIO)
             .channelInitializer { channel in
                 var channelHandlers: [(String?, ChannelHandler)] = []