diff --git a/code/controllers/configuration.dm b/code/controllers/configuration.dm
index f0f0f727089..4b2d5e28e4d 100644
--- a/code/controllers/configuration.dm
+++ b/code/controllers/configuration.dm
@@ -268,10 +268,11 @@
 					Tickcomp = 1
 				if("automute_on")
 					automute_on = 1
-				if("comms_key")
-					comms_key = value
-					if(value != "default_pwd" && length(value) > 6) //It's the default value or less than 6 characters long, warn badmins
-						comms_allowed = 1
+				if("comms_enabled") //Whether comms are enabled at all
+					if("comms_key") //The actual password
+						comms_key = value
+						if(value != "default_pwd" && length(value) > 6) //It's the default value or less than 6 characters long, warn badmins
+							comms_allowed = 1
 				else
 					diary << "Unknown setting in configuration: '[name]'"
 
diff --git a/config/config.txt b/config/config.txt
index e084f8176d8..3b1ba3afeca 100644
--- a/config/config.txt
+++ b/config/config.txt
@@ -145,5 +145,6 @@ TICKCOMP 0
 ## Comment this out to disable automuting
 #AUTOMUTE_ON
 
-## Communication key for receiving data through world/Topic(), you don't want to give this out
+## Communication key for receiving data through world/Topic(), you don't want to give this out. Comms_enabled will be on if it's uncommented AND it's not the default value.
+COMMS_ENABLED
 COMMS_KEY default_pwd
\ No newline at end of file