MultiThreadedHttpConnectionManager connectionManager =  new MultiThreadedHttpConnectionManager();
HttpConnectionManagerParams params = connectionManager.getParams();

params.setConnectionTimeout(connectiontimeout); //set connection timeout (how long it takes to connect to remote host)
params.setSoTimeout(sotimeout); //set socket timeout (how long it takes to retrieve data from remote host)

HttpMethodBase baseMethod = null;

try {
  HttpClient httpClient = new HttpClient(connectionManager);
  httpClient.getParams().setParameter("http.connection-manager.timeout", poolTimeout); //set timeout on how long we’ll wait for a connection from the pool

  baseMethod = new GetMethod(…);
  int statusCode = httpClient.executeMethod(…);

  …
}
catch (ConnectTimeoutException cte ){
  //Took too long to connect to remote host
}
catch (SocketTimeoutException ste){
  //Remote host didn’t respond in time
}
catch (Exception se){
  //Some other error occurred
}
finally {
  if (baseMethod != null)
    baseMethod.releaseConnection();
}