diff --git a/tuf/__init__.py b/tuf/__init__.py
index 70324314..7fa5e4af 100755
--- a/tuf/__init__.py
+++ b/tuf/__init__.py
@@ -238,8 +238,8 @@ def __init__(self, average_download_speed):
     self.__average_download_speed = average_download_speed #bytes/second
 
   def __str__(self):
-    return "Average download speed: "+str(self.__average_download_speed)+\
-           " bytes/second"
+    return "Download was too slow. Average speed: "+\
+           str(self.__average_download_speed)+" bytes/second"
 
 
 
diff --git a/tuf/conf.py b/tuf/conf.py
index 249ab870..542bc81b 100755
--- a/tuf/conf.py
+++ b/tuf/conf.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 
 # Since the timestamp role does not have signed metadata about itself, we set a
 # default but sane upper bound for the number of bytes required to download it.
-DEFAULT_TIMESTAMP_REQUIRED_LENGTH = 2048 #bytes
+DEFAULT_TIMESTAMP_REQUIRED_LENGTH = 16384 #bytes
 
 # Set a timeout value in seconds (float) for non-blocking socket operations.
 SOCKET_TIMEOUT = 1 #seconds