diff --git a/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/transport/tcp/TCPConnection.java b/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/transport/tcp/TCPConnection.java
index 1797b376a..d38104858 100644
--- a/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/transport/tcp/TCPConnection.java
+++ b/router/java/src/net/i2p/router/transport/tcp/TCPConnection.java
@@ -63,16 +63,12 @@ class TCPConnection implements I2NPMessageReader.I2NPMessageEventListener {
     protected SessionKey _key;
     protected ByteArray _extraBytes;
     protected byte[] _iv;
-    protected int _maxQueuedMessages;
     private long _lastSliceRun;
     private boolean _closed;
     private boolean _weInitiated;
     private long _created;
     protected RouterContext _context;
     
-    public final static String PARAM_MAX_QUEUED_MESSAGES = "i2np.tcp.maxQueuedMessages";
-    private final static int DEFAULT_MAX_QUEUED_MESSAGES = 20;
-
     public TCPConnection(RouterContext context, Socket s, boolean locallyInitiated) {
         _context = context;
         _log = context.logManager().getLog(TCPConnection.class);
@@ -101,7 +97,6 @@ class TCPConnection implements I2NPMessageReader.I2NPMessageEventListener {
         _remotePort = s.getPort();
         if (_log.shouldLog(Log.INFO))
             _log.info("Connected with peer: " + _remoteHost + ":" + _remotePort);
-        updateMaxQueuedMessages();
     }
     
     /** how long has this connection been around for, or -1 if it isn't established yet */
@@ -114,21 +109,6 @@ class TCPConnection implements I2NPMessageReader.I2NPMessageEventListener {
     
     protected boolean weInitiatedConnection() { return _weInitiated; }
     
-    private void updateMaxQueuedMessages() {
-        String str = _context.router().getConfigSetting(PARAM_MAX_QUEUED_MESSAGES);
-        if ( (str != null) && (str.trim().length() > 0) ) {
-            try {
-                int max = Integer.parseInt(str);
-                _maxQueuedMessages = max;
-                return;
-            } catch (NumberFormatException nfe) {
-                if (_log.shouldLog(Log.WARN))
-                    _log.warn("Invalid max queued messages [" + str + "]");
-            }
-        }
-        _maxQueuedMessages = DEFAULT_MAX_QUEUED_MESSAGES;
-    }
-    
     public RouterIdentity getRemoteRouterIdentity() { return _remoteIdentity; }
     int getId() { return _id; }
     int getPendingMessageCount() { 
@@ -265,20 +245,28 @@ class TCPConnection implements I2NPMessageReader.I2NPMessageEventListener {
         long beforeAdd = _context.clock().now();
         StringBuffer pending = new StringBuffer(64);
         synchronized (_toBeSent) {
-            if ( (_maxQueuedMessages > 0) && (_toBeSent.size() >= _maxQueuedMessages) ) {
-                fail = true;
-            } else { 
+            for (int i = 0; i < _toBeSent.size(); i++) {
+                OutNetMessage cur = (OutNetMessage)_toBeSent.get(i);
+                if (cur.getExpiration() < beforeAdd) {
+                    fail = true;
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+            if (!fail) {
                 _toBeSent.add(msg);
-                // the ConnectionRunner.processSlice does a wait() until we have messages
             }
             totalPending = _toBeSent.size();
             pending.append(totalPending).append(": ");
-            for (int i = 0; i < totalPending; i++) {
-                OutNetMessage cur = (OutNetMessage)_toBeSent.get(i);
-                pending.append(cur.getMessageSize()).append(" byte ");
-                pending.append(cur.getMessageType()).append(" message added");
-                pending.append(" added ").append(cur.getLifetime()).append(" ms ago, ");
+            if (fail) {
+                for (int i = 0; i < totalPending; i++) {
+                    OutNetMessage cur = (OutNetMessage)_toBeSent.get(i);
+                    pending.append(cur.getMessageSize()).append(" byte ");
+                    pending.append(cur.getMessageType()).append(" message added");
+                    pending.append(" added ").append(cur.getLifetime()).append(" ms ago, ");
+                }
             }
+            
+            // the ConnectionRunner.processSlice does a wait() until we have messages
             _toBeSent.notifyAll();
         }
         long afterAdd = _context.clock().now();
@@ -287,12 +275,12 @@ class TCPConnection implements I2NPMessageReader.I2NPMessageEventListener {
 
         if (fail) {
             if (_log.shouldLog(Log.ERROR))
-                _log.error("too many queued messages to " + _remoteIdentity.getHash().toBase64() + ": " + pending.toString());
+                _log.error("messages expired on the queue to " + _remoteIdentity.getHash().toBase64() + ": " + pending.toString());
 
             // do we really want to give them a comm error because they're so.damn.slow reading their stream?
             _context.profileManager().commErrorOccurred(_remoteIdentity.getHash());
             
-            msg.timestamp("TCPConnection.addMessage exceeded max queued");
+            msg.timestamp("TCPConnection.addMessage saw an expired queued message");
             _transport.afterSend(msg, false);
             // should we really be closing a connection if they're that slow?  
             // yeah, i think we should.