diff --git a/interface/src/Application.cpp b/interface/src/Application.cpp
index 4079e920b1..d864fb86dd 100644
--- a/interface/src/Application.cpp
+++ b/interface/src/Application.cpp
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ Application::Application(int& argc, char** argv, timeval &startup_time) :
     _window->setWindowTitle("Interface");
     printLog("Interface Startup:\n");
     
-    unsigned int listenPort = AGENT_SOCKET_LISTEN_PORT;
+    unsigned int listenPort = 0; // bind to an ephemeral port by default
     const char** constArgv = const_cast<const char**>(argv);
     const char* portStr = getCmdOption(argc, constArgv, "--listenPort");
     if (portStr) {
@@ -827,8 +827,6 @@ void Application::terminate() {
 static void sendAvatarVoxelURLMessage(const QUrl& url) {
     uint16_t ownerID = AgentList::getInstance()->getOwnerID();
     
-    qDebug() << "me" << ownerID << url;
-    
     if (ownerID == UNKNOWN_AGENT_ID) {
         return; // we don't yet know who we are
     }
@@ -850,8 +848,6 @@ static void processAvatarVoxelURLMessage(unsigned char *packetData, size_t dataB
     packetData += sizeof(agentID);
     dataBytes -= sizeof(agentID);
     
-    qDebug() << "them" << agentID << QUrl::fromEncoded(QByteArray((char*)packetData, dataBytes));
-    
     // make sure the agent exists
     Agent* agent = AgentList::getInstance()->agentWithID(agentID);
     if (!agent || !agent->getLinkedData()) {
diff --git a/libraries/shared/src/AgentList.cpp b/libraries/shared/src/AgentList.cpp
index 9c309bb23f..56641bd2a0 100644
--- a/libraries/shared/src/AgentList.cpp
+++ b/libraries/shared/src/AgentList.cpp
@@ -62,7 +62,6 @@ AgentList::AgentList(char newOwnerType, unsigned int newSocketListenPort) :
     _agentSocket(newSocketListenPort),
     _ownerType(newOwnerType),
     _agentTypesOfInterest(NULL),
-    _socketListenPort(newSocketListenPort),
     _ownerID(UNKNOWN_AGENT_ID),
     _lastAgentID(0) {
     pthread_mutex_init(&mutex, 0);
@@ -224,7 +223,7 @@ void AgentList::sendDomainServerCheckIn() {
         
         packetPosition += packSocket(checkInPacket + sizeof(PACKET_HEADER) + sizeof(AGENT_TYPE),
                                      getLocalAddress(),
-                                     htons(_socketListenPort));
+                                     htons(_agentSocket.getListeningPort()));
         
         // add the number of bytes for agent types of interest
         *(packetPosition++) = numBytesAgentsOfInterest;
diff --git a/libraries/shared/src/AgentList.h b/libraries/shared/src/AgentList.h
index 3007dbc8e3..1b51913928 100644
--- a/libraries/shared/src/AgentList.h
+++ b/libraries/shared/src/AgentList.h
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ public:
     
     UDPSocket* getAgentSocket() { return &_agentSocket; }
     
-    unsigned int getSocketListenPort() const { return _socketListenPort; };
+    unsigned int getSocketListenPort() const { return _agentSocket.getListeningPort(); };
     
     void(*linkedDataCreateCallback)(Agent *);
     
diff --git a/libraries/shared/src/UDPSocket.cpp b/libraries/shared/src/UDPSocket.cpp
index b7c2275635..8cd58a20bc 100644
--- a/libraries/shared/src/UDPSocket.cpp
+++ b/libraries/shared/src/UDPSocket.cpp
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ unsigned short loadBufferWithSocketInfo(char* addressBuffer, sockaddr* socket) {
     }
 }
 
-UDPSocket::UDPSocket(int listeningPort) : blocking(true) {
+UDPSocket::UDPSocket(int listeningPort) : blocking(true), listeningPort(listeningPort) {
     init();
     // create the socket
     handle = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_UDP);
@@ -140,6 +140,13 @@ UDPSocket::UDPSocket(int listeningPort) : blocking(true) {
         return;
     }
     
+    // if we requested an ephemeral port, get the actual port
+    if (listeningPort == 0) {
+        socklen_t addressLength = sizeof(sockaddr_in);
+        getsockname(handle, (sockaddr*) &bind_address, &addressLength);
+        listeningPort = ntohs(bind_address.sin_port);
+    }
+    
     // set timeout on socket recieve to 0.5 seconds
     struct timeval tv;
     tv.tv_sec = 0;
diff --git a/libraries/shared/src/UDPSocket.h b/libraries/shared/src/UDPSocket.h
index b56a1cc0cf..8539ff93c2 100644
--- a/libraries/shared/src/UDPSocket.h
+++ b/libraries/shared/src/UDPSocket.h
@@ -23,14 +23,16 @@ public:
     UDPSocket(int listening_port);
     ~UDPSocket();
     bool init();
+    int getListeningPort() const { return listeningPort; }
     void setBlocking(bool blocking);
-    bool isBlocking() { return blocking; }
+    bool isBlocking() const { return blocking; }
     int send(sockaddr* destAddress, const void* data, size_t byteLength) const;
     int send(char* destAddress, int destPort, const void* data, size_t byteLength) const;
     bool receive(void* receivedData, ssize_t* receivedBytes) const;
     bool receive(sockaddr* recvAddress, void* receivedData, ssize_t* receivedBytes) const;
 private:
     int handle;
+    int listeningPort;
     bool blocking;
 };