diff --git a/lib/http_proxy.c b/lib/http_proxy.c
index 556abf1a7..adcfe42dd 100644
--- a/lib/http_proxy.c
+++ b/lib/http_proxy.c
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
  *                            | (__| |_| |  _ <| |___
  *                             \___|\___/|_| \_\_____|
  *
- * Copyright (C) 1998 - 2013, Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
+ * Copyright (C) 1998 - 2014, Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
  *
  * This software is licensed as described in the file COPYING, which
  * you should have received as part of this distribution. The terms
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ CURLcode Curl_proxy_connect(struct connectdata *conn)
 CURLcode Curl_proxyCONNECT(struct connectdata *conn,
                            int sockindex,
                            const char *hostname,
-                           unsigned short remote_port)
+                           int remote_port)
 {
   int subversion=0;
   struct SessionHandle *data=conn->data;
diff --git a/lib/http_proxy.h b/lib/http_proxy.h
index 518c09383..2b5e9c9b4 100644
--- a/lib/http_proxy.h
+++ b/lib/http_proxy.h
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
  *                            | (__| |_| |  _ <| |___
  *                             \___|\___/|_| \_\_____|
  *
- * Copyright (C) 1998 - 2012, Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
+ * Copyright (C) 1998 - 2014, Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
  *
  * This software is licensed as described in the file COPYING, which
  * you should have received as part of this distribution. The terms
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 /* ftp can use this as well */
 CURLcode Curl_proxyCONNECT(struct connectdata *conn,
                            int tunnelsocket,
-                           const char *hostname, unsigned short remote_port);
+                           const char *hostname, int remote_port);
 
 /* Default proxy timeout in milliseconds */
 #define PROXY_TIMEOUT (3600*1000)
diff --git a/lib/url.c b/lib/url.c
index 4d7508eee..7a7c2781d 100644
--- a/lib/url.c
+++ b/lib/url.c
@@ -3553,6 +3553,7 @@ static struct connectdata *allocate_conn(struct SessionHandle *data)
   conn->tempsock[1] = CURL_SOCKET_BAD; /* no file descriptor */
   conn->connection_id = -1;    /* no ID */
   conn->port = -1; /* unknown at this point */
+  conn->remote_port = -1; /* unknown */
 
   /* Default protocol-independent behavior doesn't support persistent
      connections, so we set this to force-close. Protocols that support
@@ -4075,7 +4076,7 @@ static CURLcode setup_connection_internals(struct connectdata *conn)
 
   /* only if remote_port was not already parsed off the URL we use the
      default port number */
-  if(!conn->remote_port)
+  if(conn->remote_port < 0)
     conn->remote_port = (unsigned short)conn->given->defport;
 
   return CURLE_OK;
diff --git a/lib/urldata.h b/lib/urldata.h
index 1ab7b94e9..9d6a9730a 100644
--- a/lib/urldata.h
+++ b/lib/urldata.h
@@ -388,7 +388,7 @@ struct curl_ssl_session {
   void *sessionid;  /* as returned from the SSL layer */
   size_t idsize;    /* if known, otherwise 0 */
   long age;         /* just a number, the higher the more recent */
-  unsigned short remote_port; /* remote port to connect to */
+  int remote_port;  /* remote port to connect to */
   struct ssl_config_data ssl_config; /* setup for this session */
 };
 
@@ -868,8 +868,7 @@ struct connectdata {
   struct hostname proxy;
 
   long port;       /* which port to use locally */
-  unsigned short remote_port; /* what remote port to connect to,
-                                 not the proxy port! */
+  int remote_port; /* what remote port to connect to, not the proxy port! */
 
   /* 'primary_ip' and 'primary_port' get filled with peer's numerical
      ip address and port number whenever an outgoing connection is