diff --git a/examples/EchoClient.hs b/examples/EchoClient.hs
index 8fbb2be..0b1c14d 100644
--- a/examples/EchoClient.hs
+++ b/examples/EchoClient.hs
@@ -25,10 +25,11 @@ import Network.Xmpp.IM
 
 -- Server and authentication details.
 
-hostName = "nejla.com"
-portNumber = 5222
-userName = "jon"
-password = "G2D9%b4S3" -- TODO
+hostname = "nejla.com"
+hostname_ = "xmpp.nejla.com" -- TODO
+-- portNumber = 5222 -- TODO
+userName = ""
+password = ""
 
 
 -- TODO: Incomplete code, needs documentation, etc.
@@ -36,9 +37,9 @@ main :: IO ()
 main = do
     withNewSession $ do
         withConnection $ do
-            connect "xmpp.nejla.com" "nejla.com"
+            connect hostname_ hostname
             -- startTLS exampleParams
-            saslResponse <- auth userName password (Just "echo-client")
+            saslResponse <- simpleAuth userName password (Just "echo-client")
             case saslResponse of
                 Right _ -> return ()
                 Left e -> error $ show e
diff --git a/source/Network/Xmpp.hs b/source/Network/Xmpp.hs
index ee93fe3..4da49ce 100644
--- a/source/Network/Xmpp.hs
+++ b/source/Network/Xmpp.hs
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ module Network.Xmpp
   , withConnection
   , connect
   , startTLS
+  , simpleAuth
   , auth
   , endSession
   , setConnectionClosedHandler
diff --git a/source/Network/Xmpp/Monad.hs b/source/Network/Xmpp/Monad.hs
index 075b3cb..f7062f9 100644
--- a/source/Network/Xmpp/Monad.hs
+++ b/source/Network/Xmpp/Monad.hs
@@ -40,6 +40,15 @@ pushElement x = do
 pushStanza :: Stanza -> XmppConMonad Bool
 pushStanza = pushElement . pickleElem xpStanza
 
+-- XML documents and XMPP streams SHOULD be preceeded by an XML declaration.
+-- UTF-8 is the only supported XMPP encoding. The standalone document
+-- declaration (matching "SDDecl" in the XML standard) MUST NOT be included in
+-- XMPP streams. RFC 6120 defines XMPP only in terms of XML 1.0.
+pushXmlDecl :: XmppConMonad Bool
+pushXmlDecl = do
+    sink <- gets sConPushBS
+    liftIO $ sink "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?>"
+
 pushOpenElement :: Element -> XmppConMonad Bool
 pushOpenElement e = do
     sink <- gets sConPushBS
diff --git a/source/Network/Xmpp/Stream.hs b/source/Network/Xmpp/Stream.hs
index 2fa3681..52fba97 100644
--- a/source/Network/Xmpp/Stream.hs
+++ b/source/Network/Xmpp/Stream.hs
@@ -61,8 +61,10 @@ xmppStartStream = runErrorT $ do
     hostname' <- gets sHostname
     case hostname' of
         Nothing -> throwError StreamConnectionError
-        Just hostname -> lift . pushOpenElement $
-            pickleElem pickleStream ("1.0", Nothing, Just hostname)
+        Just hostname -> lift $ do
+            pushXmlDecl
+            pushOpenElement $
+                pickleElem pickleStream ("1.0", Nothing, Just hostname)
     features <- ErrorT . pullToSink $ runErrorT xmppStream
     modify (\s -> s {sFeatures = features})
     return ()