diff --git a/git_config.py b/git_config.py
index 26fc970..19c19f1 100644
--- a/git_config.py
+++ b/git_config.py
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@
 except ImportError:
   import dummy_threading as _threading
 import time
+import urllib2
+
 from signal import SIGTERM
 from urllib2 import urlopen, HTTPError
 from error import GitError, UploadError
@@ -563,23 +565,25 @@
         try:
           info = urlopen(u).read()
           if info == 'NOT_AVAILABLE':
-            raise UploadError('Upload over ssh unavailable')
+            raise UploadError('%s: SSH disabled' % self.review)
           if '<' in info:
             # Assume the server gave us some sort of HTML
             # response back, like maybe a login page.
             #
-            raise UploadError('Cannot read %s:\n%s' % (u, info))
+            raise UploadError('%s: Cannot parse response' % u)
 
           self._review_protocol = 'ssh'
           self._review_host = info.split(" ")[0]
           self._review_port = info.split(" ")[1]
+        except urllib2.URLError, e:
+          raise UploadError('%s: %s' % (self.review, e.reason[1]))
         except HTTPError, e:
           if e.code == 404:
             self._review_protocol = 'http-post'
             self._review_host = None
             self._review_port = None
           else:
-            raise UploadError('Cannot guess Gerrit version')
+            raise UploadError('Upload over ssh unavailable')
 
         REVIEW_CACHE[u] = (
           self._review_protocol,