diff --git a/src/actor.rs b/src/actor.rs
index 28fc75a..0122512 100644
--- a/src/actor.rs
+++ b/src/actor.rs
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ use std::pin::Pin;
 use std::task::{Poll, Context};
 use std::sync::Mutex;
 use std::collections::HashMap;
-use std::convert::TryFrom;
 use std::future::Future;
 use std::time::Duration;
 
@@ -18,8 +17,7 @@ use crate::network::ActorMap;
 
 use slog::Logger;
 use url::Url;
-use crate::Error;
-use crate::Error::{MQTTConnectionError};
+use crate::Error::{BadConfiguration, MQTTConnectionError};
 
 pub trait Actuator {
     fn apply(&mut self, state: MachineState) -> BoxFuture<'static, ()>;
@@ -135,9 +133,32 @@ pub fn load(log: &Logger, config: &Config) -> Result<(ActorMap, Vec<Actor>)> {
     let mut map = HashMap::new();
 
     let mqtt_url = Url::parse(config.mqtt_url.as_str())?;
-    let mut mqttoptions = MqttOptions::try_from(mqtt_url)
-        .map_err(|opt| Error::Boxed(Box::new(opt)))?;
-    mqttoptions.set_keep_alive(Duration::from_secs(20));
+    let (transport, default_port) = match mqtt_url.scheme() {
+        "mqtts" | "ssl" =>
+            (rumqttc::Transport::tls_with_config(rumqttc::ClientConfig::new().into()), 8883),
+
+        "mqtt" | "tcp" => (rumqttc::Transport::tcp(), 1883),
+
+        scheme => {
+            error!(log, "MQTT url uses invalid scheme {}", scheme);
+            return Err(BadConfiguration);
+        }
+    };
+    let host = mqtt_url.host_str().ok_or_else(|| {
+        error!(log, "MQTT url must contain a hostname");
+        BadConfiguration
+    })?;
+    let port = mqtt_url.port().unwrap_or(default_port);
+
+    let mut mqttoptions = MqttOptions::new("bffh", host, port);
+
+    mqttoptions
+        .set_transport(transport)
+        .set_keep_alive(Duration::from_secs(20));
+
+    if !mqtt_url.username().is_empty() {
+        mqttoptions.set_credentials(mqtt_url.username(), mqtt_url.password().unwrap_or_default());
+    }
 
     let (mqtt, mut eventloop) = AsyncClient::new(mqttoptions, 256);
     let dlog = log.clone();