diff --git a/docs/api-guide/settings.md b/docs/api-guide/settings.md
index 4f87b30da..6444bffd4 100644
--- a/docs/api-guide/settings.md
+++ b/docs/api-guide/settings.md
@@ -150,4 +150,8 @@ Default: `'accept'`
 
 Default: `'format'`
 
+## USE_ABSOLUTE_URLS
+
+Default: `'True'`
+
 [cite]: http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/
diff --git a/docs/topics/release-notes.md b/docs/topics/release-notes.md
index ecb6c91a2..7e82dd471 100644
--- a/docs/topics/release-notes.md
+++ b/docs/topics/release-notes.md
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 >
 > — Eric S. Raymond, [The Cathedral and the Bazaar][cite].
 
+## Master
+
+* Add support and settings option `USE_ABSOLUTE_URLS`
+
 ## 2.1.1
 
 **Date**: 7th Nov 2012
diff --git a/rest_framework/pagination.py b/rest_framework/pagination.py
index 131718fd7..6f7c2dc06 100644
--- a/rest_framework/pagination.py
+++ b/rest_framework/pagination.py
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 from rest_framework import serializers
+from rest_framework.settings import api_settings
+from rest_framework.templatetags.rest_framework import replace_query_param
 
 # TODO: Support URLconf kwarg-style paging
 
@@ -7,30 +9,42 @@ class NextPageField(serializers.Field):
     """
     Field that returns a link to the next page in paginated results.
     """
+    page_field = 'page'
+
     def to_native(self, value):
         if not value.has_next():
             return None
         page = value.next_page_number()
         request = self.context.get('request')
-        relative_url = '?page=%d' % page
+        url = ''
         if request:
-            return request.build_absolute_uri(relative_url)
-        return relative_url
+            if api_settings.USE_ABSOLUTE_URLS:
+                url = request.build_absolute_uri()
+            else:
+                url = request.get_full_path()
+
+        return replace_query_param(url, self.page_field, page)
 
 
 class PreviousPageField(serializers.Field):
     """
     Field that returns a link to the previous page in paginated results.
     """
+    page_field = 'page'
+
     def to_native(self, value):
         if not value.has_previous():
             return None
         page = value.previous_page_number()
         request = self.context.get('request')
-        relative_url = '?page=%d' % page
+        url = ''
         if request:
-            return request.build_absolute_uri('?page=%d' % page)
-        return relative_url
+            if api_settings.USE_ABSOLUTE_URLS:
+                url = request.build_absolute_uri()
+            else:
+                url = request.get_full_path()
+
+        return replace_query_param(url, self.page_field, page)
 
 
 class PaginationSerializerOptions(serializers.SerializerOptions):
diff --git a/rest_framework/reverse.py b/rest_framework/reverse.py
index c9db02f06..af1109bc1 100644
--- a/rest_framework/reverse.py
+++ b/rest_framework/reverse.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 """
 Provide reverse functions that return fully qualified URLs
 """
+from rest_framework.settings import api_settings
 from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse as django_reverse
 from django.utils.functional import lazy
 
@@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ def reverse(viewname, args=None, kwargs=None, request=None, format=None, **extra
         kwargs = kwargs or {}
         kwargs['format'] = format
     url = django_reverse(viewname, args=args, kwargs=kwargs, **extra)
-    if request:
+    if request and api_settings.USE_ABSOLUTE_URLS:
         return request.build_absolute_uri(url)
     return url
 
diff --git a/rest_framework/settings.py b/rest_framework/settings.py
index 9c40a2144..900fc7acb 100644
--- a/rest_framework/settings.py
+++ b/rest_framework/settings.py
@@ -65,7 +65,9 @@ DEFAULTS = {
     'URL_ACCEPT_OVERRIDE': 'accept',
     'URL_FORMAT_OVERRIDE': 'format',
 
-    'FORMAT_SUFFIX_KWARG': 'format'
+    'FORMAT_SUFFIX_KWARG': 'format',
+
+    'USE_ABSOLUTE_URLS': True
 }