diff -r 9cd9ab75eade -r 905f0261d3a4 Lib/_socket.py
--- a/Lib/_socket.py	Tue May 27 19:05:44 2014 +0000
+++ b/Lib/_socket.py	Wed May 28 21:10:02 2014 -0700
@@ -1388,9 +1388,22 @@
 
 
 # Define data structures to support IPV4 and IPV6.
-# FIXME are these ip address classes required by CPython API? Must they be old-style classes?
 
-class _ip_address_t: pass
+class _ip_address_t(object):
+
+    _address_tuple = None
+
+    def __getitem__(self, index):
+        return self._address_tuple.__getitem__(index)
+
+    def __len__(self):
+        return self._address_tuple.__len__()
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        return self._address_tuple.__str__()
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        return self._address_tuple.__repr__()
 
 class _ipv4_address_t(_ip_address_t):
 
@@ -1398,22 +1411,7 @@
         self.sockaddr = sockaddr
         self.port     = port
         self.jaddress = jaddress
-
-    def __getitem__(self, index):
-        if   0 == index:
-            return self.sockaddr
-        elif 1 == index:
-            return self.port
-        else:
-            raise IndexError()
-
-    def __len__(self):
-        return 2
-
-    def __str__(self):
-        return "('%s', %d)" % (self.sockaddr, self.port)
-
-    __repr__ = __str__
+        self._address_tuple = (sockaddr, port)
 
 class _ipv6_address_t(_ip_address_t):
 
@@ -1421,27 +1419,7 @@
         self.sockaddr = sockaddr
         self.port     = port
         self.jaddress = jaddress
-
-    def __getitem__(self, index):
-        if   0 == index:
-            return self.sockaddr
-        elif 1 == index:
-            return self.port
-        elif 2 == index:
-            return 0
-        elif 3 == index:
-            return self.jaddress.scopeId
-        else:
-            raise IndexError()
-
-    def __len__(self):
-        return 4
-
-    def __str__(self):
-        return "('%s', %d, 0, %d)" % (self.sockaddr, self.port, self.jaddress.scopeId)
-
-    __repr__ = __str__
-
+        self._address_tuple = (sockaddr, port, 0, jaddress.scopeId)
 
 
 def _get_jsockaddr(address_object, family, sock_type, proto, flags):
diff -r 9cd9ab75eade -r 905f0261d3a4 Lib/test/test_socket.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_socket.py	Tue May 27 19:05:44 2014 +0000
+++ b/Lib/test/test_socket.py	Wed May 28 21:10:02 2014 -0700
@@ -1802,6 +1802,17 @@
             self.assert_(isinstance(canonname, str))
             self.assert_(isinstance(sockaddr[0], str))
 
+    def testSockAddrAsTuple(self):
+        family, socktype, proto, canonname, sockaddr = socket.getaddrinfo(HOST, PORT, socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)[0]
+        self.assertEqual(len(sockaddr), 2)
+        self.assertEqual(sockaddr[-1], PORT)
+        self.assertEqual(sockaddr[:2], ('127.0.0.1', PORT))
+
+        family, socktype, proto, canonname, sockaddr = socket.getaddrinfo('::1', PORT, socket.AF_INET6, socket.SOCK_STREAM)[0]
+        self.assertEqual(len(sockaddr), 4)
+        self.assertEqual(sockaddr[-3], PORT)
+        #self.assertEqual(sockaddr[:2], ('::1', PORT))      # FIXME: Got '0:0:...:1' instead!
+
     def testAI_PASSIVE(self):
         # Disabling this test for now; it's expectations are not portable.
         # Expected results are too dependent on system config to be made portable between systems.