diff --git a/doc/irc.luadoc b/doc/irc.luadoc
index 34b2a4d..432f15d 100644
--- a/doc/irc.luadoc
+++ b/doc/irc.luadoc
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ function irc:shutdown()
 -- <li><code>username</code> - User username.</li>
 -- <li><code>host</code> - User hostname.</li>
 -- <li><code>realname</code> - User real name.</li>
--- <li><code>access</code> - User access, available in channel-oriented callbacks. A table containing the boolean fields 'op', 'halfop', and 'voice'.</li>
+-- <li><code>access</code> - User access, available in channel-oriented callbacks. A table containing boolean fields for each access mode that the server supports. Eg: 'o', and 'v'.</li>
 -- </ul>
 -- Apart from <code>nick</code>, fields may be missing. To fill them in, enable user tracking and use irc:whois.
 -- @name User
diff --git a/handlers.lua b/handlers.lua
index 56314bd..b31c098 100644
--- a/handlers.lua
+++ b/handlers.lua
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ handlers["353"] = function(o, user, me, chanType, channel, names)
 
 		local users = o.channels[channel].users
 		for nick in names:gmatch("(%S+)") do
-			local access, name = parseNick(nick)
+			local access, name = parseNick(o, nick)
 			users[name] = {access = access}
 		end
 	end
@@ -161,18 +161,17 @@ handlers["MODE"] = function(o, user, target, modes, ...)
 	if o.track_users and target ~= o.nick then
 		local add = true
 		local optList = {...}
+		updatePrefixModes(o)
 		for c in modes:gmatch(".") do
 			if     c == "+" then add = true
 			elseif c == "-" then add = false
-			elseif c == "o" then
-				local user = table.remove(optList, 1)
-				o.channels[target].users[user].access.op = add
-			elseif c == "h" then
-				local user = table.remove(optList, 1)
-				o.channels[target].users[user].access.halfop = add
-			elseif c == "v" then
-				local user = table.remove(optList, 1)
-				o.channels[target].users[user].access.voice = add
+			elseif o.modeprefix[c] then
+				local nick = table.remove(optList, 1)
+				local access = o.channels[target].users[nick].access
+				access[o.modeprefix[c]] = add
+				if     c == "o" then access.op = add
+				elseif c == "v" then access.voice = add
+				end
 			end
 		end
 	end
diff --git a/util.lua b/util.lua
index 0b22e91..b0d5955 100644
--- a/util.lua
+++ b/util.lua
@@ -50,29 +50,51 @@ function parse(line)
 	return prefix, cmd, params
 end
 
-function parseNick(nick)
-	local access, name = nick:match("^([%+@]*)(.+)$")
-	return parseAccess(access or ""), name
+function parseNick(conn, nick)
+	local access = {}
+	updatePrefixModes(conn)
+	local namestart = 1
+	for i = 1, #nick - 1 do
+		local c = nick:sub(i, i)
+		if conn.prefixmode[c] then
+			access[conn.prefixmode[c]] = true
+		else
+			namestart = i
+			break
+		end
+	end
+	access.op = access.o
+	access.voice = access.v
+	local name = nick:sub(namestart)
+	return access, name
 end
 
 function parsePrefix(prefix)
 	local user = {}
 	if prefix then
-		user.access, user.nick, user.username, user.host = prefix:match("^([%+@]*)(.+)!(.+)@(.+)$")
+		user.nick, user.username, user.host = prefix:match("^(.+)!(.+)@(.+)$")
 	end
-	user.access = parseAccess(user.access or "")
 	return user
 end
 
-function parseAccess(accessString)
-	local access = {op = false, halfop = false, voice = false}
-	for c in accessString:gmatch(".") do
-		if     c == "@" then access.op = true
-		elseif c == "%" then access.halfop = true
-		elseif c == "+" then access.voice = true
-		end
+function updatePrefixModes(conn)
+	if conn.prefixmode and conn.modeprefix then
+		return
+	end
+	conn.prefixmode = {}
+	conn.modeprefix = {}
+	if conn.supports.PREFIX then
+		local modes, prefixes = conn.supports.PREFIX:match("%(([^%)]*)%)(.*)")
+		for i = 1, #modes do
+			conn.prefixmode[prefixes:sub(i, i)] =    modes:sub(i, i)
+			conn.modeprefix[   modes:sub(i, i)] = prefixes:sub(i, i)
+		end
+	else
+		conn.prefixmode['@'] = 'o'
+		conn.prefixmode['+'] = 'v'
+		conn.modeprefix['o'] = '@'
+		conn.modeprefix['v'] = '+'
 	end
-	return access
 end
 
 --mIRC markup scheme (de-facto standard)