diff --git a/keystoneclient/access.py b/keystoneclient/access.py
index 3947b6f10..c16c22b24 100644
--- a/keystoneclient/access.py
+++ b/keystoneclient/access.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ from keystoneclient.openstack.common import timeutils
 
 
 # gap, in seconds, to determine whether the given token is about to expire
-STALE_TOKEN_DURATION = '30'
+STALE_TOKEN_DURATION = 30
 
 
 class AccessInfo(dict):
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ class AccessInfo(dict):
         :return: boolean : true if expiration is within the given duration
 
         """
-        stale_duration = stale_duration or TALE_TOKEN_DURATION
+        stale_duration = (STALE_TOKEN_DURATION if stale_duration is None
+                          else stale_duration)
         norm_expires = timeutils.normalize_time(self.expires)
         # (gyee) should we move auth_token.will_expire_soon() to timeutils
         # instead of duplicating code here?
diff --git a/tests/test_access.py b/tests/test_access.py
index 621fefc5a..31f91d6ab 100644
--- a/tests/test_access.py
+++ b/tests/test_access.py
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ class AccessInfoTest(utils.TestCase):
         auth_ref = access.AccessInfo(UNSCOPED_TOKEN['access'])
         self.assertFalse(auth_ref.will_expire_soon(stale_duration=120))
         self.assertTrue(auth_ref.will_expire_soon(stale_duration=300))
+        self.assertFalse(auth_ref.will_expire_soon())
 
     def test_building_scoped_accessinfo(self):
         auth_ref = access.AccessInfo(PROJECT_SCOPED_TOKEN['access'])