diff --git a/DESCRIPTION.rst b/DESCRIPTION.rst
index 38e4d38..3810ed0 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION.rst
+++ b/DESCRIPTION.rst
@@ -8,13 +8,9 @@ Requirements
 
 Install the following prerequisites using `pip`:
 
-* `gevent`
 * `sseclient`
 * `websocket-client`
 
-The `gevent` package in turn requires Python headers.
-In Debian based distributions (such as Ubuntu and Raspbian) they are called `python-dev`.
-
 Compatibility
 -------------
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cb7349b..8174aa8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6,13 +6,9 @@ Python client proxy for [SignalR](http://signalr.net/).
 
 Install the following prerequisites using `pip`:
 
-* `gevent`
 * `sseclient`
 * `websocket-client`
 
-The `gevent` package in turn requires Python headers.
-In Debian based distributions (such as Ubuntu and Raspbian) they are called `python-dev`.
-
 ## Compatibility
 
 Only compatible with Python 2, not Python 3.
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6b9117f..98b84c9 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -25,5 +25,5 @@
     ],
     keywords='signalr',
     packages=find_packages(),
-    install_requires=['gevent', 'websocket-client', 'sseclient', 'requests']
+    install_requires=['websocket-client', 'sseclient', 'requests']
 )
diff --git a/signalr/_connection.py b/signalr/_connection.py
index 2e09a3c..a7378a9 100644
--- a/signalr/_connection.py
+++ b/signalr/_connection.py
@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
 import json
-import gevent
 from signalr.events import EventHook
 from signalr.hubs import Hub
 from signalr.transports import AutoTransport
-
+from threading import Thread
 
 class Connection:
     protocol_version = '1.5'
@@ -15,8 +14,9 @@ def __init__(self, url, session):
         self.connection_token = None
         self.connection_data = None
         self.handlers = EventHook()
+        self.is_open = False
         self.__transport = AutoTransport(session, self.handlers)
-        self.__greenlet = None
+        self.__listener_thread = None
 
     def __get_connection_data(self):
         return json.dumps(map(lambda hub_name: {'name': hub_name}, self.__hubs))
@@ -33,16 +33,19 @@ def start(self):
         listener = self.__transport.start(self)
 
         def wrapped_listener():
-            listener()
-            gevent.sleep(0)
+            while self.is_open:
+                listener()
 
-        self.__greenlet = gevent.spawn(wrapped_listener)
+        self.is_open = True
+        self.__listener_thread = Thread(target=wrapped_listener)
+        self.__listener_thread.start()
 
     def send(self, data):
         self.__transport.send(self, data)
 
     def close(self):
-        gevent.kill(self.__greenlet)
+        self.is_open = False
+        self.__listener_thread.join()
         self.__transport.close(self)
 
     def hub(self, name):
diff --git a/signalr/transports/_sse_transport.py b/signalr/transports/_sse_transport.py
index 2d12fa1..9764c88 100644
--- a/signalr/transports/_sse_transport.py
+++ b/signalr/transports/_sse_transport.py
@@ -12,11 +12,17 @@ def _get_name(self):
         return 'serverSentEvents'
 
     def start(self, connection):
-        self.__response = sseclient.SSEClient(self._get_url(connection, 'connect'), session=self._session)
+        connect_url = self._get_url(connection, 'connect')
+        self.__response = \
+            iter(sseclient.SSEClient(connect_url, session=self._session))
         self._session.get(self._get_url(connection, 'start'))
 
         def _receive():
-            for notification in self.__response:
+            try:
+                notification = next(self.__response)
+            except StopIteration:
+                return
+            else:
                 if notification.data != 'initialized':
                     self._handle_notification(notification.data)
 
diff --git a/signalr/transports/_ws_transport.py b/signalr/transports/_ws_transport.py
index 7246ecd..012bec9 100644
--- a/signalr/transports/_ws_transport.py
+++ b/signalr/transports/_ws_transport.py
@@ -26,9 +26,8 @@ def start(self, connection):
                                     cookie=self.__get_cookie_str())
 
         def _receive():
-            while True:
-                notification = self.ws.recv()
-                self._handle_notification(notification)
+            notification = self.ws.recv()
+            self._handle_notification(notification)
 
         return _receive