diff --git a/pyVim/connect.py b/pyVim/connect.py
index 4ba2a19d9..936742678 100644
--- a/pyVim/connect.py
+++ b/pyVim/connect.py
@@ -23,25 +23,19 @@
 
 Detailed description (for [e]pydoc goes here).
 """
-
-import sys
-import threading
-import thread
-import types
-import httplib
-import socket
-import time
-import itertools
 import re
-from pyVmomi import vim, vmodl, SoapStubAdapter, SessionOrientedStub
-from pyVmomi.VmomiSupport import nsMap, versionIdMap, versionMap, IsChildVersion
-from pyVmomi.VmomiSupport import GetServiceVersions
 try:
-   from xml.etree.ElementTree import ElementTree
+   from xml.etree import ElementTree
 except ImportError:
-   from elementtree.ElementTree import ElementTree
+   from elementtree import ElementTree
 from xml.parsers.expat import ExpatError
-import urllib2
+
+import requests
+from requests.auth import HTTPBasicAuth
+
+from pyVmomi import vim, vmodl, SoapStubAdapter, SessionOrientedStub
+from pyVmomi.VmomiSupport import nsMap, versionIdMap, versionMap, IsChildVersion
+from pyVmomi.VmomiSupport import GetServiceVersions
 
 
 """
@@ -57,7 +51,6 @@
 @todo: Get rid of me?
 """
 
-
 class closing(object):
    """
    Helper class for using closable objects in a 'with' statement,
@@ -411,7 +404,7 @@ def __exit__(self, *exc_info):
 
 def __GetServiceVersionDescription(protocol, server, port, path):
    """
-   Private method that returns an ElementTree describing the API versions
+   Private method that returns a root from an ElementTree describing the API versions
    supported by the specified server.  The result will be vimServiceVersions.xml
    if it exists, otherwise vimService.wsdl if it exists, otherwise None.
 
@@ -425,26 +418,23 @@ def __GetServiceVersionDescription(protocol, server, port, path):
    @type  path: string
    """
 
-   tree = ElementTree()
-
    url = "%s://%s:%s/%s/vimServiceVersions.xml" % (protocol, server, port, path)
    try:
-      with closing(urllib2.urlopen(url)) as sock:
-         if sock.getcode() == 200:
-            tree.parse(sock)
-            return tree
+      sock = requests.get(url, verify=False)
+      if sock.status_code == 200:
+         tree = ElementTree.fromstring(sock.content)
+         return tree
    except ExpatError:
       pass
 
    url = "%s://%s:%s/%s/vimService.wsdl" % (protocol, server, port, path)
    try:
-      with closing(urllib2.urlopen(url)) as sock:
-         if sock.getcode() == 200:
-            tree.parse(sock)
-            return tree
+      sock = requests.get(url, verify=False)
+      if sock.status_code == 200:
+         tree = ElementTree.fromstring(sock.content)
+         return tree
    except ExpatError:
       pass
-
    return None
 
 
@@ -459,12 +449,12 @@ def __VersionIsSupported(desiredVersion, serviceVersionDescription):
    @param desiredVersion: The version we want to see if the server supports
                           (eg. vim.version.version2.
    @type  desiredVersion: string
-   @param serviceVersionDescription: An ElementTree for vimServiceVersions.xml
+   @param serviceVersionDescription: A root ElementTree for vimServiceVersions.xml
                                      or vimService.wsdl.
-   @type  serviceVersionDescription: ElementTree
+   @type  serviceVersionDescription: root ElementTree
    """
 
-   root = serviceVersionDescription.getroot()
+   root = serviceVersionDescription
    if root.tag == 'namespaces':
       # serviceVersionDescription appears to be a vimServiceVersions.xml document
       if root.get('version') <> '1.0':
@@ -593,11 +583,7 @@ def OpenUrlWithBasicAuth(url, user='root', pwd=''):
    the specified credentials to the server as part of the request.
    Returns the response as a file-like object.
    """
-   pwMgr = urllib2.HTTPPasswordMgrWithDefaultRealm()
-   pwMgr.add_password(None, url, user, pwd)
-   handler = urllib2.HTTPBasicAuthHandler(pwMgr)
-   opener = urllib2.build_opener(handler)
-   return opener.open(url)
+   return requests.get(url, auth=HTTPBasicAuth(user, pwd), verify=False)
 
 def OpenPathWithStub(path, stub):
    """
@@ -617,8 +603,8 @@ def OpenPathWithStub(path, stub):
       raise vmodl.fault.NotSupported()
    hostPort = stub.host
    url = '%s://%s%s' % (protocol, hostPort, path)
-   request = urllib2.Request(url)
+   headers = {}
    if stub.cookie:
-      request.add_header('Cookie', stub.cookie)
-   return urllib2.urlopen(request)
+       headers["Cookie"] = stub.cookie
+   return requests.get(url, headers=headers, verify=False)
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..663bd1f6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+requests
\ No newline at end of file