diff --git a/src/iperf.h b/src/iperf.h
index 6e05904..f5f33d7 100644
--- a/src/iperf.h
+++ b/src/iperf.h
@@ -219,7 +219,8 @@ struct iperf_test
 #define MB (1024 * 1024)
 #define MAX_TCP_BUFFER (512 * MB)
 #define MAX_BLOCKSIZE MB
-#define MAX_INTERVAL 60
+#define MIN_INTERVAL 0.1
+#define MAX_INTERVAL 60.0
 #define MAX_TIME 3600
 #define MAX_MSS (9 * 1024)
 #define MAX_STREAMS 128
diff --git a/src/iperf_api.c b/src/iperf_api.c
index 292648f..912ab96 100644
--- a/src/iperf_api.c
+++ b/src/iperf_api.c
@@ -551,7 +551,7 @@ iperf_parse_arguments(struct iperf_test *test, int argc, char **argv)
                 /* XXX: could potentially want separate stat collection and reporting intervals,
                    but just set them to be the same for now */
                 test->stats_interval = test->reporter_interval = atof(optarg);
-                if (test->stats_interval > MAX_INTERVAL) {
+                if ((test->stats_interval < MIN_INTERVAL || test->stats_interval > MAX_INTERVAL) && test->stats_interval != 0) {
                     i_errno = IEINTERVAL;
                     return -1;
                 }
@@ -1367,8 +1367,7 @@ iperf_defaults(struct iperf_test *testp)
     testp->stats_callback = iperf_stats_callback;
     testp->reporter_callback = iperf_reporter_callback;
 
-    testp->stats_interval = 0;
-    testp->reporter_interval = 0;
+    testp->stats_interval = testp->reporter_interval = 1;
     testp->num_streams = 1;
 
     testp->settings->domain = AF_UNSPEC;
diff --git a/src/iperf_api.h b/src/iperf_api.h
index 131978f..b45c1e3 100644
--- a/src/iperf_api.h
+++ b/src/iperf_api.h
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ enum {
     IENUMSTREAMS = 6,       // Number of parallel streams too large. Maximum value = %dMAX_STREAMS
     IEBLOCKSIZE = 7,        // Block size too large. Maximum value = %dMAX_BLOCKSIZE
     IEBUFSIZE = 8,          // Socket buffer size too large. Maximum value = %dMAX_TCP_BUFFER
-    IEINTERVAL = 9,         // Report interval too large. Maxumum value = %dMAX_INTERVAL
+    IEINTERVAL = 9,         // Invalid report interval (min = %gMIN_INTERVAL, max = %gMAX_INTERVAL seconds)
     IEMSS = 10,             // MSS too large. Maximum value = %dMAX_MSS
     IENOSENDFILE = 11,      // This OS does not support sendfile
     IEOMIT = 12,            // Bogus value for --omit
diff --git a/src/iperf_error.c b/src/iperf_error.c
index 5ab3eab..caff3cf 100644
--- a/src/iperf_error.c
+++ b/src/iperf_error.c
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ iperf_strerror(int i_errno)
             snprintf(errstr, len, "socket buffer size too large (maximum = %d bytes)", MAX_TCP_BUFFER);
             break;
         case IEINTERVAL:
-            snprintf(errstr, len, "report interval too large (maximum = %d seconds)", MAX_INTERVAL);
+            snprintf(errstr, len, "invalid report interval (min = %g, max = %g seconds)", MIN_INTERVAL, MAX_INTERVAL);
             break;
         case IEMSS:
             snprintf(errstr, len, "TCP MSS too large (maximum = %d bytes)", MAX_MSS);