diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/consumer/ConsumerConfig.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/consumer/ConsumerConfig.scala
index c8c4212..2798a18 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/consumer/ConsumerConfig.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/consumer/ConsumerConfig.scala
@@ -87,6 +87,8 @@ class ConsumerConfig private (val props: VerifiableProperties) extends ZKConfig(
 
   /** the socket timeout for network requests. The actual timeout set will be max.fetch.wait + socket.timeout.ms. */
   val socketTimeoutMs = props.getInt("socket.timeout.ms", SocketTimeout)
+  require(fetchWaitMaxMs <= socketTimeoutMs, "fetch.wait.max.ms should always be at least socket.timeout.ms" +
+    " to prevent unnecessary socket timeouts")
   
   /** the socket receive buffer for network requests */
   val socketReceiveBufferBytes = props.getInt("socket.receive.buffer.bytes", SocketBufferSize)
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/KafkaConfig.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/KafkaConfig.scala
index a7e5b73..27fbc2d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/KafkaConfig.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/KafkaConfig.scala
@@ -191,6 +191,8 @@ class KafkaConfig private (val props: VerifiableProperties) extends ZKConfig(pro
 
   /* the socket timeout for network requests */
   val replicaSocketTimeoutMs = props.getInt("replica.socket.timeout.ms", ConsumerConfig.SocketTimeout)
+  require(replicaFetchWaitMaxMs <= replicaSocketTimeoutMs, "replica.fetch.wait.max.ms should always be at least replica.socket.timeout.ms" +
+    " to prevent unnecessary socket timeouts")
 
   /* the socket receive buffer for network requests */
   val replicaSocketReceiveBufferBytes = props.getInt("replica.socket.receive.buffer.bytes", ConsumerConfig.SocketBufferSize)