diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+## 0.2.0.0
+- Added APIs for setting port number and character encoding.
+- Updated type signature for mkMySQLConnectInfo to align with mysql-haskell.
+
+## 0.1.1.0
+- Bumped up version to include README and example.
+
 ## 0.1.0.0
 
 * Ported persistent-mysql 2.6 to use mysql-haskell as the underlying database driver.
diff --git a/Database/Persist/MySQL.hs b/Database/Persist/MySQL.hs
--- a/Database/Persist/MySQL.hs
+++ b/Database/Persist/MySQL.hs
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
   , module Database.Persist.Sql
   , MySQLConnectInfo
   , mkMySQLConnectInfo
+  , setMySQLConnectInfoPort
+  , setMySQLConnectInfoCharset
   , MySQLConf
   , mkMySQLConf
   , mockMigration
@@ -56,6 +58,8 @@
 import qualified Data.Time.Calendar     as Time
 import qualified Data.Time.LocalTime    as Time
 import qualified Data.ByteString.Char8  as BSC
+import qualified Network.Socket         as NetworkSocket
+import qualified Data.Word              as Word
 
 import Control.Monad.Trans.Control (MonadBaseControl)
 import Control.Monad.Trans.Resource (runResourceT)
@@ -895,18 +899,29 @@
 
 -- | Public constructor for @MySQLConnectInfo@.
 mkMySQLConnectInfo
-  :: String -- ^ hostname
-  -> String -- ^ username
-  -> String -- ^ password
-  -> String -- ^ database
+  :: NetworkSocket.HostName -- ^ hostname
+  -> BSC.ByteString          -- ^ username
+  -> BSC.ByteString          -- ^ password
+  -> BSC.ByteString          -- ^ database
   -> MySQLConnectInfo
 mkMySQLConnectInfo host user pass db
   = MySQLConnectInfo   $ MySQL.defaultConnectInfo {
       MySQL.ciHost     = host
-    , MySQL.ciUser     = BSC.pack user
-    , MySQL.ciPassword = BSC.pack pass
-    , MySQL.ciDatabase = BSC.pack db
+    , MySQL.ciUser     = user
+    , MySQL.ciPassword = pass
+    , MySQL.ciDatabase = db
   }
+
+-- | Update port number for @MySQLConnectInfo@.
+setMySQLConnectInfoPort :: NetworkSocket.PortNumber -> MySQLConnectInfo -> MySQLConnectInfo
+setMySQLConnectInfoPort port (MySQLConnectInfo ci) = MySQLConnectInfo $ ci { MySQL.ciPort = port }
+
+-- | Update character set for @MySQLConnectInfo@.
+setMySQLConnectInfoCharset
+  :: Word.Word8       -- ^ Numeric ID of collation. See https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/show-collation.html.
+  -> MySQLConnectInfo -- ^ Reference connectInfo to perform update on
+  -> MySQLConnectInfo
+setMySQLConnectInfoCharset charset (MySQLConnectInfo ci) = MySQLConnectInfo $ ci { MySQL.ciCharset = charset }
 
 -- TODO: submit a PR to mysql-haskell to add SHOW instance
 deriving instance Show MySQL.ConnectInfo
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -43,7 +43,18 @@
     -             , connectDatabase = "test"
     -             }
     + connectInfo = mkMySQLConnectInfo "localhost" "test" "test" "test"
+
+    connectInfoNewPort :: MySQLConnectInfo
+    - connectInfoNewPort = connectInfo { connectPort = 3307 }
+    + connectInfoNewPort = setMySQLConnectInfoPort 3307 connectInfo
+
+    connectInfoNewCharSet :: MySQLConnectInfo
+    - connectInfoNewCharSet = connectInfo { connectOptions = [CharsetName "utf8"] }
+    + connectInfoNewCharSet = setMySQLConnectInfoCharset 33 connectInfo
+
     ```
+
+Aside from connection configuration, persistent-mysql-haskell is functionally on par with persistent-mysql (as of writing this). This can be seen by [comparing persistent-test between this fork and upstream](https://github.com/yesodweb/persistent/compare/master...naushadh:persistent-mysql-haskell#diff-028f5df7b2b9c5c8b0fa670fc8c69bff).
 
 ### FAQs
 
diff --git a/persistent-mysql-haskell.cabal b/persistent-mysql-haskell.cabal
--- a/persistent-mysql-haskell.cabal
+++ b/persistent-mysql-haskell.cabal
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 name:            persistent-mysql-haskell
-version:         0.1.1.0
+version:         0.2.0.0
 license:         MIT
 license-file:    LICENSE
 author:          Naushadh <naushadh@protonmail.com>, Felipe Lessa <felipe.lessa@gmail.com>, Michael Snoyman
 maintainer:      Naushadh <naushadh@protonmail.com>
 synopsis:        A pure haskell backend for the persistent library using MySQL database server.
 category:        Database, Yesod
-stability:       Stable
 cabal-version:   >= 1.8
 build-type:      Simple
 homepage:        http://www.yesodweb.com/book/persistent
@@ -42,7 +41,7 @@
                    , mysql-haskell         >= 0.8.0.0 && < 1.0
                    , io-streams            >= 1.2     && < 2.0
                    , time                  >= 1.5.0
-                   , tls                   >= 1.3.5   && <1.4
+                   , network               >= 2.3     && <3.0
     exposed-modules: Database.Persist.MySQL
     ghc-options:     -Wall