diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
index 01b142554f..dd6e580ff2 100644
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ HEAD
   will not read more data from their socket, allowing TCP flow control to work
   without blocking the main thread.
 - Feature: Adds the ability to specify whether or not to use the `SO_REUSEADDR`
-  TCP socket option. The default for this value has been changed from `true` to 
+  TCP socket option. The default for this value has been changed from `true` to
   `false`.
 - Feature: Adds the ability to specify a maximum message size.
 - Feature: Adds `close::status::get_string(...)` method to look up a human
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ HEAD
   short reads and quasi-expected socket shutdown related errors will no longer
   be reported as unclean WebSocket shutdowns to the application. Information
   about them will remain in the info error channel for debugging purposes.
-- Improvement: `start_accept` errors are now reported to the caller either via
-  an exception or an ec parameter.
+- Improvement: `start_accept` and `listen` errors are now reported to the caller
+  either via an exception or an ec parameter.
 - Bug: Fix some cases of calls to empty lib::function objects.
 - Bug: Fix memory leak of connection objects due to cached handlers holding on to
   reference counted pointers. #310 Thank you otaras for reporting.
diff --git a/websocketpp/transport/asio/endpoint.hpp b/websocketpp/transport/asio/endpoint.hpp
index 21bb610e57..a7bf8a36f9 100644
--- a/websocketpp/transport/asio/endpoint.hpp
+++ b/websocketpp/transport/asio/endpoint.hpp
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ public:
       : m_io_service(src.m_io_service)
       , m_external_io_service(src.m_external_io_service)
       , m_acceptor(src.m_acceptor)
-      , m_listen_backlog(0)
+      , m_listen_backlog(boost::asio::socket_base::max_connections)
       , m_reuse_addr(src.m_reuse_addr)
       , m_state(src.m_state)
     {
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ public:
             rhs.m_io_service = NULL;
             rhs.m_external_io_service = false;
             rhs.m_acceptor = NULL;
-            rhs.m_listen_backlog = 0;
+            rhs.m_listen_backlog = boost::asio::socket_base::max_connections;
             rhs.m_state = UNINITIALIZED;
         }
         return *this;
@@ -344,16 +344,25 @@ public:
 
         m_alog->write(log::alevel::devel,"asio::listen");
 
-        m_acceptor->open(ep.protocol());
-        m_acceptor->set_option(boost::asio::socket_base::reuse_address(m_reuse_addr));
-        m_acceptor->bind(ep);
-        if (m_listen_backlog == 0) {
-            m_acceptor->listen();
-        } else {
-            m_acceptor->listen(m_listen_backlog);
+        boost::system::error_code bec;
+
+        m_acceptor->open(ep.protocol(),bec);
+        if (!bec) {
+            m_acceptor->set_option(boost::asio::socket_base::reuse_address(m_reuse_addr),bec);
+        }
+        if (!bec) {
+            m_acceptor->bind(ep,bec);
+        }
+        if (!bec) {
+            m_acceptor->listen(m_listen_backlog,bec);
+        }
+        if (bec) {
+            log_err(log::elevel::info,"asio listen",bec);
+            ec = make_error_code(error::pass_through);
+        } else {
+            m_state = LISTENING;
+            ec = lib::error_code();
         }
-        m_state = LISTENING;
-        ec = lib::error_code();
     }
 
     /// Set up endpoint for listening manually