diff --git a/mercurial/keepalive.py b/mercurial/keepalive.py
--- a/mercurial/keepalive.py
+++ b/mercurial/keepalive.py
@@ -403,6 +403,11 @@
     _raw_read = httplib.HTTPResponse.read
     _raw_readinto = getattr(httplib.HTTPResponse, 'readinto', None)
 
+    # Python 2.7 has a single close() which closes the socket handle.
+    # This method was effectively renamed to _close_conn() in Python 3. But
+    # there is also a close(). _close_conn() is called by methods like
+    # read().
+
     def close(self):
         if self.fp:
             self.fp.close()
@@ -411,6 +416,9 @@
                 self._handler._request_closed(self, self._host,
                                               self._connection)
 
+    def _close_conn(self):
+        self.close()
+
     def close_connection(self):
         self._handler._remove_connection(self._host, self._connection, close=1)
         self.close()