diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd/SMTP.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd/SMTP.pm
index 1f4f2d0..d0d6180 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd/SMTP.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd/SMTP.pm
@@ -429,11 +429,8 @@ sub data {
 
   my $header = Mail::Header->new(Modify => 0, MailFrom => "COERCE");
 
-  my $timeout = $self->config('timeout');
 
-  alarm $timeout;
-
-  while (<STDIN>) {
+  while (defined($_ = $self->getline)) {
     $complete++, last if $_ eq ".\r\n";
     $i++;
 
@@ -481,8 +478,6 @@ sub data {
       $size += length $_;
     }
     #$self->log(LOGDEBUG, "size is at $size\n") unless ($i % 300);
-
-    alarm $timeout;
   }
 
   $self->log(LOGDEBUG, "max_size: $max_size / size: $size");
@@ -528,6 +523,17 @@ sub data {
 
 }
 
+sub getline {
+  my $self = shift;
+  
+  my $timeout = $self->config('timeout');
+
+  alarm $timeout;
+  my $line = <STDIN>; # default implementation
+  alarm 0;
+  return $line;
+}
+
 sub queue {
   my ($self, $transaction) = @_;