diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index a2b6c56582..f430a7bb15 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ Dialplan Functions
  * HASH-associated variables now can be inherited across channel creation, by
    prefixing the name of the hash at assignment with the appropriate number of
    underscores, just like variables.
+ * GROUP_MATCH_COUNT has been improved to allow regex matching on category
 
 Dialplan Variables
 ------------------
diff --git a/funcs/func_groupcount.c b/funcs/func_groupcount.c
index 4ee88a882f..70c3964363 100644
--- a/funcs/func_groupcount.c
+++ b/funcs/func_groupcount.c
@@ -58,12 +58,13 @@ ASTERISK_FILE_VERSION(__FILE__, "$Revision$")
 				<para>A standard regular expression used to match a group name.</para>
 			</parameter>
 			<parameter name="category">
-				<para>Category name.</para>
+				<para>A standard regular expression used to match a category name.</para>
 			</parameter>
 		</syntax>
 		<description>
 			<para>Calculates the group count for all groups that match the specified pattern.
-			Uses standard regular expression matching (see regex(7)).</para>
+			Note: category matching is applied after matching based on group.
+			Uses standard regular expression matching on both (see regex(7)).</para>
 		</description>
 	</function>
 	<function name="GROUP" language="en_US">
diff --git a/main/app.c b/main/app.c
index 24676713f2..7cb7e30b05 100644
--- a/main/app.c
+++ b/main/app.c
@@ -1091,27 +1091,34 @@ int ast_app_group_get_count(const char *group, const char *category)
 int ast_app_group_match_get_count(const char *groupmatch, const char *category)
 {
 	struct ast_group_info *gi = NULL;
-	regex_t regexbuf;
+	regex_t regexbuf_group;
+	regex_t regexbuf_category;
 	int count = 0;
 
-	if (ast_strlen_zero(groupmatch)) {
+	if (ast_strlen_zero(groupmatch))
+		return 0;
+
+	/* if regex compilation fails, return zero matches */
+	if (regcomp(&regexbuf_group, groupmatch, REG_EXTENDED | REG_NOSUB)) {
+		ast_log(LOG_ERROR, "Regex compile failed on: %s\n", groupmatch);
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	/* if regex compilation fails, return zero matches */
-	if (regcomp(&regexbuf, groupmatch, REG_EXTENDED | REG_NOSUB)) {
+	if (regcomp(&regexbuf_category, category, REG_EXTENDED | REG_NOSUB)) {
+		ast_log(LOG_ERROR, "Regex compile failed on: %s\n", category);
 		return 0;
 	}
 
 	AST_RWLIST_RDLOCK(&groups);
 	AST_RWLIST_TRAVERSE(&groups, gi, group_list) {
-		if (!regexec(&regexbuf, gi->group, 0, NULL, 0) && (ast_strlen_zero(category) || (!ast_strlen_zero(gi->category) && !strcasecmp(gi->category, category)))) {
+		if (!regexec(&regexbuf_group, gi->group, 0, NULL, 0) && (ast_strlen_zero(category) || (!ast_strlen_zero(gi->category) && !regexec(&regexbuf_category, gi->category, 0, NULL, 0)))) {
 			count++;
 		}
 	}
 	AST_RWLIST_UNLOCK(&groups);
 
-	regfree(&regexbuf);
+	regfree(&regexbuf_group);
+	regfree(&regexbuf_category);
 
 	return count;
 }
diff --git a/tests/test_app.c b/tests/test_app.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fa19b6e9cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_app.c
@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+/*
+ * Asterisk -- An open source telephony toolkit.
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2010, Digium, Inc.
+ *
+ * Jeff Peeler <jpeeler@digium.com>
+ *
+ * See http://www.asterisk.org for more information about
+ * the Asterisk project. Please do not directly contact
+ * any of the maintainers of this project for assistance;
+ * the project provides a web site, mailing lists and IRC
+ * channels for your use.
+ *
+ * This program is free software, distributed under the terms of
+ * the GNU General Public License Version 2. See the LICENSE file
+ * at the top of the source tree.
+ */
+
+/*!
+ * \file
+ * \brief App unit test
+ *
+ * \author Jeff Peeler <jpeeler@digium.com>
+ *
+ */
+
+/*** MODULEINFO
+	<depend>TEST_FRAMEWORK</depend>
+ ***/
+
+#include "asterisk.h"
+
+ASTERISK_FILE_VERSION(__FILE__, "$Revision$")
+
+#include "asterisk/utils.h"
+#include "asterisk/module.h"
+#include "asterisk/test.h"
+#include "asterisk/app.h"
+#include "asterisk/channel.h"
+
+#define BASE_GROUP "a group"
+
+AST_TEST_DEFINE(app_group)
+{
+	struct ast_channel *test_channel1 = NULL;
+	struct ast_channel *test_channel2 = NULL;
+	struct ast_channel *test_channel3 = NULL;
+	struct ast_channel *test_channel4 = NULL;
+
+	static const char group1_full[] = BASE_GROUP "groupgroup";
+	static const char group2_full[] = BASE_GROUP "Groupgroup";
+	static const char regex1[] = "gr"; /* matches everything */
+	static const char regex2[] = "(group){2}$"; /* matches only group1_full */
+	static const char regex3[] = "[:ascii:]"; /* matches everything */
+	static const char regex4[] = "^(NOMATCH)"; /* matches nothing */
+	static const char category1_full[] = BASE_GROUP "@a_category"; /* categories shouldn't have spaces */
+	static const char category2_full[] = BASE_GROUP "@another!Category";
+	static const char regex5[] = "(gory)$"; /* matches both categories */
+	static const char regex6[] = "[A-Z]+"; /* matches only category2_full */
+	static const char regex7[] = "[["; /* not valid syntax, yes an expected warning will be displayed */
+	static enum ast_test_result_state res = AST_TEST_PASS;
+	static const struct group_test_params {
+		const char *groupmatch;
+		const char *category;
+		int expected;
+	} subtests[] = {
+		{ regex1, "", 4 },
+		{ regex2, "", 1 },
+		{ regex3, "", 4 },
+		{ regex4, "", 0 },
+		{ BASE_GROUP, regex5, 2 },
+		{ BASE_GROUP, regex6, 1 },
+		/* this test is expected to generate a warning message from the invalid regex */
+		{ BASE_GROUP, regex7, 0 }
+	};
+	int i;
+	int returned_count;
+
+	switch (cmd) {
+	case TEST_INIT:
+		info->name = "app_group";
+		info->category = "main/app/";
+		info->summary = "App group unit test";
+		info->description =
+			"This tests various app group functionality";
+		return AST_TEST_NOT_RUN;
+	case TEST_EXECUTE:
+		break;
+	}
+
+	ast_test_status_update(test, "Creating test channels with the following groups:\n"
+		"'%s', '%s', '%s', '%s'\n", group1_full, group2_full, category1_full, category2_full);
+
+	if (!(test_channel1 = ast_channel_alloc(0, AST_STATE_DOWN, NULL, NULL, NULL,
+        NULL, NULL, 0, 0, "TestChannel1"))) {
+		goto exit_group_test;
+	}
+	if (!(test_channel2 = ast_channel_alloc(0, AST_STATE_DOWN, NULL, NULL, NULL,
+        NULL, NULL, 0, 0, "TestChannel2"))) {
+		goto exit_group_test;
+	}
+	if (!(test_channel3 = ast_channel_alloc(0, AST_STATE_DOWN, NULL, NULL, NULL,
+        NULL, NULL, 0, 0, "TestChannel3"))) {
+		goto exit_group_test;
+	}
+	if (!(test_channel4 = ast_channel_alloc(0, AST_STATE_DOWN, NULL, NULL, NULL,
+        NULL, NULL, 0, 0, "TestChannel4"))) {
+		goto exit_group_test;
+	}
+
+	ast_app_group_set_channel(test_channel1, group1_full);
+	ast_app_group_set_channel(test_channel2, group2_full);
+	ast_app_group_set_channel(test_channel3, category1_full);
+	ast_app_group_set_channel(test_channel4, category2_full);
+
+	for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_LEN(subtests); i++) {
+		ast_assert(subtests[i].groupmatch != NULL || subtests[i].category != NULL);
+		returned_count = ast_app_group_match_get_count(subtests[i].groupmatch, subtests[i].category);
+
+		if (subtests[i].expected != returned_count) {
+			ast_test_status_update(test, "(Subtest %d) Expected %d matches but found %d when examining group:'%s' category:'%s'\n",
+				i + 1, subtests[i].expected, returned_count, subtests[i].groupmatch, subtests[i].category);
+			res = AST_TEST_FAIL;
+			goto exit_group_test;
+		} else {
+			ast_test_status_update(test, "(Subtest %d) Found %d matches as expected when examining group:'%s' category:'%s'\n",
+				i + 1, subtests[i].expected, subtests[i].groupmatch, subtests[i].category);
+		}
+	}
+
+exit_group_test:
+	if (test_channel1) {
+		ast_hangup(test_channel1);
+	}
+	if (test_channel2) {
+		ast_hangup(test_channel2);
+	}
+	if (test_channel3) {
+		ast_hangup(test_channel3);
+	}
+	if (test_channel4) {
+		ast_hangup(test_channel4);
+	}
+	return res;
+}
+
+static int unload_module(void)
+{
+	AST_TEST_UNREGISTER(app_group);
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static int load_module(void)
+{
+	AST_TEST_REGISTER(app_group);
+	return AST_MODULE_LOAD_SUCCESS;
+}
+
+AST_MODULE_INFO_STANDARD(ASTERISK_GPL_KEY, "App unit test");