diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/SideBandInputStream.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/SideBandInputStream.java
index 5f3b34e6f..dadc0638b 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/SideBandInputStream.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/SideBandInputStream.java
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@ import org.eclipse.jgit.util.RawParseUtils;
  * @see SideBandOutputStream
  */
 class SideBandInputStream extends InputStream {
+	private static final String PFX_REMOTE = "remote: ";
+
 	static final int CH_DATA = 1;
 
 	static final int CH_PROGRESS = 2;
@@ -161,7 +163,7 @@ class SideBandInputStream extends InputStream {
 				continue;
 			case CH_ERROR:
 				eof = true;
-				throw new TransportException("remote: " + readString(available));
+				throw new TransportException(PFX_REMOTE + readString(available));
 			default:
 				throw new PackProtocolException("Invalid channel " + channel);
 			}
@@ -201,8 +203,7 @@ class SideBandInputStream extends InputStream {
 			if (!currentTask.equals(taskname)) {
 				currentTask = taskname;
 				lastCnt = 0;
-				final int tot = Integer.parseInt(matcher.group(3));
-				monitor.beginTask(currentTask, tot);
+				beginTask(Integer.parseInt(matcher.group(3)));
 			}
 			final int cnt = Integer.parseInt(matcher.group(2));
 			monitor.update(cnt - lastCnt);
@@ -216,7 +217,7 @@ class SideBandInputStream extends InputStream {
 			if (!currentTask.equals(taskname)) {
 				currentTask = taskname;
 				lastCnt = 0;
-				monitor.beginTask(currentTask, ProgressMonitor.UNKNOWN);
+				beginTask(ProgressMonitor.UNKNOWN);
 			}
 			final int cnt = Integer.parseInt(matcher.group(2));
 			monitor.update(cnt - lastCnt);
@@ -227,6 +228,10 @@ class SideBandInputStream extends InputStream {
 		return false;
 	}
 
+	private void beginTask(final int totalWorkUnits) {
+		monitor.beginTask(PFX_REMOTE + currentTask, totalWorkUnits);
+	}
+
 	private String readString(final int len) throws IOException {
 		final byte[] raw = new byte[len];
 		IO.readFully(rawIn, raw, 0, len);