diff --git a/include/grpc++/channel_arguments.h b/include/grpc++/channel_arguments.h
index 8d338c654ec..68f24cde4af 100644
--- a/include/grpc++/channel_arguments.h
+++ b/include/grpc++/channel_arguments.h
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 #include <list>
 
 #include <grpc++/config.h>
+#include <grpc/compression.h>
 #include <grpc/grpc.h>
 
 namespace grpc {
@@ -58,6 +59,9 @@ class ChannelArguments {
   void SetSslTargetNameOverride(const grpc::string& name);
   // TODO(yangg) add flow control options
 
+  // Set the compression level for the channel.
+  void SetCompressionLevel(grpc_compression_level level);
+
   // Generic channel argument setters. Only for advanced use cases.
   void SetInt(const grpc::string& key, int value);
   void SetString(const grpc::string& key, const grpc::string& value);
diff --git a/include/grpc/compression.h b/include/grpc/compression.h
index 630fa1656ae..207898f6054 100644
--- a/include/grpc/compression.h
+++ b/include/grpc/compression.h
@@ -34,6 +34,9 @@
 #ifndef GRPC_COMPRESSION_H
 #define GRPC_COMPRESSION_H
 
+/** To be used in channel arguments */
+#define GRPC_COMPRESSION_LEVEL_ARG "grpc.compression_level"
+
 /* The various compression algorithms supported by GRPC */
 typedef enum {
   GRPC_COMPRESS_NONE = 0,
@@ -43,7 +46,17 @@ typedef enum {
   GRPC_COMPRESS_ALGORITHMS_COUNT
 } grpc_compression_algorithm;
 
+typedef enum {
+  GRPC_COMPRESS_LEVEL_NONE = 0,
+  GRPC_COMPRESS_LEVEL_LOW,
+  GRPC_COMPRESS_LEVEL_MED,
+  GRPC_COMPRESS_LEVEL_HIGH
+} grpc_compression_level;
+
 const char *grpc_compression_algorithm_name(
     grpc_compression_algorithm algorithm);
 
+grpc_compression_algorithm grpc_compression_algorithm_for_level(
+    grpc_compression_level level);
+
 #endif  /* GRPC_COMPRESSION_H */
diff --git a/src/core/channel/channel_args.c b/src/core/channel/channel_args.c
index 1b0e33b1232..166d559a456 100644
--- a/src/core/channel/channel_args.c
+++ b/src/core/channel/channel_args.c
@@ -115,3 +115,27 @@ int grpc_channel_args_is_census_enabled(const grpc_channel_args *a) {
   }
   return 0;
 }
+
+grpc_compression_level grpc_channel_args_get_compression_level(
+    const grpc_channel_args *a) {
+  size_t i;
+  if (a) {
+    for (i = 0; a && i < a->num_args; ++i) {
+      if (a->args[i].type == GRPC_ARG_INTEGER &&
+          !strcmp(GRPC_COMPRESSION_LEVEL_ARG, a->args[i].key)) {
+        return a->args[i].value.integer;
+        break;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  return GRPC_COMPRESS_LEVEL_NONE;
+}
+
+void grpc_channel_args_set_compression_level(
+    grpc_channel_args **a, grpc_compression_level level) {
+  grpc_arg tmp;
+  tmp.type = GRPC_ARG_INTEGER;
+  tmp.key = GRPC_COMPRESSION_LEVEL_ARG;
+  tmp.value.integer = level;
+  *a = grpc_channel_args_copy_and_add(*a, &tmp);
+}
diff --git a/src/core/channel/channel_args.h b/src/core/channel/channel_args.h
index eb5bf63986a..bf747b26e64 100644
--- a/src/core/channel/channel_args.h
+++ b/src/core/channel/channel_args.h
@@ -34,21 +34,31 @@
 #ifndef GRPC_INTERNAL_CORE_CHANNEL_CHANNEL_ARGS_H
 #define GRPC_INTERNAL_CORE_CHANNEL_CHANNEL_ARGS_H
 
+#include <grpc/compression.h>
 #include <grpc/grpc.h>
 
 /* Copy some arguments */
 grpc_channel_args *grpc_channel_args_copy(const grpc_channel_args *src);
 
-/* Copy some arguments and add the to_add parameter in the end.
+/** Copy some arguments and add the to_add parameter in the end.
    If to_add is NULL, it is equivalent to call grpc_channel_args_copy. */
 grpc_channel_args *grpc_channel_args_copy_and_add(const grpc_channel_args *src,
                                                   const grpc_arg *to_add);
 
-/* Destroy arguments created by grpc_channel_args_copy */
+/** Destroy arguments created by grpc_channel_args_copy */
 void grpc_channel_args_destroy(grpc_channel_args *a);
 
-/* Reads census_enabled settings from channel args. Returns 1 if census_enabled
-   is specified in channel args, otherwise returns 0. */
+/** Reads census_enabled settings from channel args. Returns 1 if census_enabled
+ * is specified in channel args, otherwise returns 0. */
 int grpc_channel_args_is_census_enabled(const grpc_channel_args *a);
 
+/** Returns the compression level set in \a a. */
+grpc_compression_level grpc_channel_args_get_compression_level(
+    const grpc_channel_args *a);
+
+/** Sets the compression level in \a a to \a level. Setting it to
+ * GRPC_COMPRESS_LEVEL_NONE disables compression for the channel. */
+void grpc_channel_args_set_compression_level(
+    grpc_channel_args **a, grpc_compression_level level);
+
 #endif  /* GRPC_INTERNAL_CORE_CHANNEL_CHANNEL_ARGS_H */
diff --git a/src/core/compression/algorithm.c b/src/core/compression/algorithm.c
index 36ead843d26..4db48df6cbf 100644
--- a/src/core/compression/algorithm.c
+++ b/src/core/compression/algorithm.c
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
  *
  */
 
+#include <stdlib.h>
 #include <grpc/compression.h>
 
 const char *grpc_compression_algorithm_name(
@@ -47,3 +48,20 @@ const char *grpc_compression_algorithm_name(
   }
   return "error";
 }
+
+/* TODO(dgq): Add the ability to specify parameters to the individual
+ * compression algorithms */
+grpc_compression_algorithm grpc_compression_algorithm_for_level(
+    grpc_compression_level level) {
+  switch (level) {
+    case GRPC_COMPRESS_LEVEL_NONE:
+      return GRPC_COMPRESS_NONE;
+    case GRPC_COMPRESS_LEVEL_LOW:
+    case GRPC_COMPRESS_LEVEL_MED:
+    case GRPC_COMPRESS_LEVEL_HIGH:
+      return GRPC_COMPRESS_DEFLATE;
+    default:
+      /* we shouldn't be making it here */
+      abort();
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/cpp/client/channel_arguments.cc b/src/cpp/client/channel_arguments.cc
index 87f8349eefd..679c4f1503d 100644
--- a/src/cpp/client/channel_arguments.cc
+++ b/src/cpp/client/channel_arguments.cc
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 #include <grpc++/channel_arguments.h>
 
 #include <grpc/grpc_security.h>
+#include "src/core/channel/channel_args.h"
 
 namespace grpc {
 
@@ -41,6 +42,10 @@ void ChannelArguments::SetSslTargetNameOverride(const grpc::string& name) {
   SetString(GRPC_SSL_TARGET_NAME_OVERRIDE_ARG, name);
 }
 
+void ChannelArguments::SetCompressionLevel(grpc_compression_level level) {
+  SetInt(GRPC_COMPRESSION_LEVEL_ARG, level);
+}
+
 grpc::string ChannelArguments::GetSslTargetNameOverride() const {
   for (unsigned int i = 0; i < args_.size(); i++) {
     if (grpc::string(GRPC_SSL_TARGET_NAME_OVERRIDE_ARG) == args_[i].key) {
diff --git a/src/objective-c/GRPCClient/GRPCCall.m b/src/objective-c/GRPCClient/GRPCCall.m
index d92a9d1b377..a9625a17997 100644
--- a/src/objective-c/GRPCClient/GRPCCall.m
+++ b/src/objective-c/GRPCClient/GRPCCall.m
@@ -100,7 +100,9 @@ NSString * const kGRPCStatusMetadataKey = @"io.grpc.StatusMetadataKey";
   if (!host || !method) {
     [NSException raise:NSInvalidArgumentException format:@"Neither host nor method can be nil."];
   }
-  // TODO(jcanizales): Throw if the requestWriter was already started.
+  if (requestWriter.state != GRXWriterStateNotStarted) {
+    [NSException raise:NSInvalidArgumentException format:@"The requests writer can't be already started."];
+  }
   if ((self = [super init])) {
     static dispatch_once_t initialization;
     dispatch_once(&initialization, ^{
diff --git a/src/ruby/.rspec b/src/ruby/.rspec
index dd579f7a137..cd7c5fb5b21 100755
--- a/src/ruby/.rspec
+++ b/src/ruby/.rspec
@@ -1,2 +1,4 @@
 -I.
 --require spec_helper
+--format documentation
+--color
diff --git a/src/ruby/spec/spec_helper.rb b/src/ruby/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 101165c146f..270d2e97d32 100644
--- a/src/ruby/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/src/ruby/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -53,3 +53,5 @@ RSpec.configure do |config|
   include RSpec::LoggingHelper
   config.capture_log_messages
 end
+
+RSpec::Expectations.configuration.warn_about_potential_false_positives = false