diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index 6f128cebe..7be6dbf51 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -61,10 +61,27 @@ function lookup (uri, opts) {
     }
     io = cache[id];
   }
-
-  return io.socket(parsed.path);
+  if (parsed.query && !opts.query) {
+    opts.query = parsed.query;
+  } else if (opts && 'object' === typeof opts.query) {
+    opts.query = encodeQueryString(opts.query);
+  }
+  return io.socket(parsed.path, opts);
+}
+/**
+ *  Helper method to parse query objects to string.
+ * @param {object} query
+ * @returns {string}
+ */
+function encodeQueryString (obj) {
+  var str = [];
+  for (var p in obj) {
+    if (obj.hasOwnProperty(p)) {
+      str.push(encodeURIComponent(p) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(obj[p]));
+    }
+  }
+  return str.join('&');
 }
-
 /**
  * Protocol version.
  *
diff --git a/lib/manager.js b/lib/manager.js
index 4efb31eac..1ad3ead32 100644
--- a/lib/manager.js
+++ b/lib/manager.js
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ Manager.prototype.maybeReconnectOnOpen = function () {
  */
 
 Manager.prototype.open =
-Manager.prototype.connect = function (fn) {
+Manager.prototype.connect = function (fn, opts) {
   debug('readyState %s', this.readyState);
   if (~this.readyState.indexOf('open')) return this;
 
@@ -350,10 +350,10 @@ Manager.prototype.onerror = function (err) {
  * @api public
  */
 
-Manager.prototype.socket = function (nsp) {
+Manager.prototype.socket = function (nsp, opts) {
   var socket = this.nsps[nsp];
   if (!socket) {
-    socket = new Socket(this, nsp);
+    socket = new Socket(this, nsp, opts);
     this.nsps[nsp] = socket;
     var self = this;
     socket.on('connecting', onConnecting);
@@ -400,6 +400,7 @@ Manager.prototype.destroy = function (socket) {
 Manager.prototype.packet = function (packet) {
   debug('writing packet %j', packet);
   var self = this;
+  if (packet.query && packet.type === 0) packet.nsp += '?' + packet.query;
 
   if (!self.encoding) {
     // encode, then write to engine with result
diff --git a/lib/socket.js b/lib/socket.js
index dc676cee5..c7e4d91c4 100644
--- a/lib/socket.js
+++ b/lib/socket.js
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ var emit = Emitter.prototype.emit;
  * @api public
  */
 
-function Socket (io, nsp) {
+function Socket (io, nsp, opts) {
   this.io = io;
   this.nsp = nsp;
   this.json = this; // compat
@@ -62,6 +62,9 @@ function Socket (io, nsp) {
   this.sendBuffer = [];
   this.connected = false;
   this.disconnected = true;
+  if (opts && opts.query) {
+    this.query = opts.query;
+  }
   if (this.io.autoConnect) this.open();
 }
 
@@ -183,7 +186,11 @@ Socket.prototype.onopen = function () {
 
   // write connect packet if necessary
   if ('/' !== this.nsp) {
-    this.packet({ type: parser.CONNECT });
+    if (this.query) {
+      this.packet({type: parser.CONNECT, query: this.query});
+    } else {
+      this.packet({type: parser.CONNECT});
+    }
   }
 };
 
diff --git a/test/socket.js b/test/socket.js
index a5597204c..1fa0b6c59 100644
--- a/test/socket.js
+++ b/test/socket.js
@@ -95,4 +95,17 @@ describe('socket', function () {
       socket.compress(false).emit('hi');
     });
   });
+
+  it('should store query string as a property', function (done) {
+    var socket = io('/abc', {query: {a: 'b'}}); // passes in as a query obj
+    var socket2 = io('/abcd?b=c&d=e'); // passes in as a query string
+    var socket3 = io('/abc', {query: {'&a': '&=?a'}}); // checks that it encodes a string
+    expect(socket.query).to.be('a=b');
+    expect(socket2.query).to.be('b=c&d=e');
+    expect(socket3.query).to.be('%26a=%26%3D%3Fa');
+    socket.disconnect();
+    socket2.disconnect();
+    socket3.disconnect();
+    done();
+  });
 });