diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index aba30cd4acff..7fda603158ad 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ env:
   - BROWSER_STACK_ACCESS_KEY=BWCd4SynLzdDcv8xtzsB
   - ARCH=linux-x64
   - BROWSER_PROVIDER_READY_FILE=/tmp/angular-material2-build/readyfile
+  - BROWSER_PROVIDER_ERROR_FILE=/tmp/angular-material2-build/errorfile
   # GITHUB_TOKEN_ANGULAR
   - secure: "fq/U7VDMWO8O8SnAQkdbkoSe2X92PVqg4d044HmRYVmcf6YbO48+xeGJ8yOk0pCBwl3ISO4Q2ot0x546kxfiYBuHkZetlngZxZCtQiFT9kyId8ZKcYdXaIW9OVdw3Gh3tQyUwDucfkVhqcs52D6NZjyE2aWZ4/d1V4kWRO/LMgo="
   matrix:
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 2e73f3692064..2a42fe397698 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@
     "@types/node": "^6.0.34",
     "@types/run-sequence": "0.0.27",
     "@types/rx": "^2.5.33",
-    "browserstacktunnel-wrapper": "^2.0.0",
     "conventional-changelog": "^1.1.0",
     "express": "^4.14.0",
     "firebase-tools": "^2.2.1",
diff --git a/scripts/browserstack/start_tunnel.js b/scripts/browserstack/start_tunnel.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 54c5087e8c79..000000000000
--- a/scripts/browserstack/start_tunnel.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,59 +0,0 @@
-'use strict';
-/**
- * Start the BrowserStack tunnel. Once its started it creates a file so the callee can wait
- * for the tunnel to be started.
- */
-
-var fs = require('fs');
-var http = require('http');
-var BrowserStackTunnel = require('browserstacktunnel-wrapper');
-
-var HOSTNAME = 'localhost';
-var PORTS = [9876, 9877];
-var ACCESS_KEY = process.env.BROWSER_STACK_ACCESS_KEY;
-var READY_FILE = process.env.BROWSER_PROVIDER_READY_FILE;
-var TUNNEL_IDENTIFIER = process.env.TRAVIS_JOB_NUMBER;
-
-// We need to start fake servers, otherwise the tunnel does not start.
-var fakeServers = [];
-var hosts = [];
-
-PORTS.forEach(function(port) {
-  fakeServers.push(http.createServer(function() {}).listen(port));
-  hosts.push({
-    name: HOSTNAME,
-    port: port,
-    sslFlag: 0
-  });
-});
-
-var tunnel = new BrowserStackTunnel({
-  key: ACCESS_KEY,
-  localIdentifier: TUNNEL_IDENTIFIER,
-  hosts: hosts
-});
-
-console.log('Starting tunnel on ports', PORTS.join(', '));
-
-// Emit a `newer_available` event to force an update of the Browserstack binaries (necessary due to Travis caching)
-// This also starts a new tunnel after the latest binaries are available.
-tunnel.emit('newer_available');
-
-tunnel.once('started', function(error) {
-  if (error) {
-    console.error('Can not establish the tunnel', error);
-  } else {
-    console.log('Tunnel established.');
-    fakeServers.forEach(function(server) {
-      server.close();
-    });
-
-    if (READY_FILE) {
-      fs.writeFile(READY_FILE, process.pid);
-    }
-  }
-});
-
-tunnel.on('error', function(error) {
-  console.error(error);
-});
diff --git a/scripts/browserstack/start_tunnel.sh b/scripts/browserstack/start_tunnel.sh
index da351371daf7..de270502a489 100755
--- a/scripts/browserstack/start_tunnel.sh
+++ b/scripts/browserstack/start_tunnel.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,72 @@
-export BROWSER_STACK_ACCESS_KEY=`echo $BROWSER_STACK_ACCESS_KEY | rev`
+#!/bin/bash
 
-node ./scripts/browserstack/start_tunnel.js &
+set -e -o pipefail
+
+# Workaround for Travis CI cookbook https://github.com/travis-ci/travis-ci/issues/4862,
+# where $PATH will be extended with relative paths to the NPM binaries.
+PATH=`echo $PATH | sed -e 's/:\.\/node_modules\/\.bin//'`
+
+TUNNEL_FILE="BrowserStackLocal-linux-x64.zip"
+TUNNEL_URL="https://www.browserstack.com/browserstack-local/$TUNNEL_FILE"
+TUNNEL_DIR="/tmp/browserstack-tunnel"
+TUNNEL_LOG="$LOGS_DIR/browserstack-tunnel.log"
+
+BROWSER_STACK_ACCESS_KEY=`echo $BROWSER_STACK_ACCESS_KEY | rev`
+
+# Cleanup and create the folder structure for the tunnel connector.
+rm -rf $TUNNEL_DIR $BROWSER_PROVIDER_READY_FILE
+mkdir -p $TUNNEL_DIR
+touch $TUNNEL_LOG
+
+cd $TUNNEL_DIR
+
+# Download the browserstack local binaries.
+curl $TUNNEL_URL -o $TUNNEL_FILE 2> /dev/null 1> /dev/null
+
+# Extract the browserstack local binaries from the tarball.
+mkdir -p browserstack-tunnel
+unzip -q $TUNNEL_FILE -d browserstack-tunnel
+
+# Cleanup the download directory.
+rm $TUNNEL_FILE
+
+ARGS=""
+
+# Set tunnel-id only on Travis, to make local testing easier.
+if [ ! -z "$TRAVIS_JOB_NUMBER" ]; then
+  ARGS="$ARGS --local-identifier $TRAVIS_JOB_NUMBER"
+fi
+
+echo "Starting Browserstack Local in the background, logging into:"
+echo "  $TUNNEL_LOG"
+echo "  ---"
+echo "  $ARGS"
+
+# Extension to the BrowserStackLocal binaries, because those can't create a readyfile.
+function create_ready_file {
+
+  # To be able to exit the tail properly we need to have a sub shell spawned, which is
+  # used to track the state of tail.
+  { sleep 120; touch $BROWSER_PROVIDER_ERROR_FILE; } &
+
+  TIMER_PID=$!
+
+  # Disown the background process, because we don't want to show any messages when killing
+  # the timer.
+  disown
+
+  # When the tail recognizes the `Ctrl-C` log message the BrowserStack Tunnel is up.
+  {
+    tail -n0 -f $TUNNEL_LOG --pid $TIMER_PID | { sed '/Ctrl/q' && kill -9 $TIMER_PID; };
+  } &> /dev/null
+
+  echo
+  echo "BrowserStack Tunnel ready"
+
+  touch $BROWSER_PROVIDER_READY_FILE
+}
+
+browserstack-tunnel/BrowserStackLocal -k $BROWSER_STACK_ACCESS_KEY $ARGS &>> $TUNNEL_LOG &
+
+# Wait for the tunnel to be ready and create the readyfile with the Browserstack PID
+create_ready_file &
diff --git a/scripts/browserstack/teardown_tunnel.sh b/scripts/browserstack/teardown_tunnel.sh
index ba09b621e803..f95970de9f63 100755
--- a/scripts/browserstack/teardown_tunnel.sh
+++ b/scripts/browserstack/teardown_tunnel.sh
@@ -5,13 +5,9 @@ set -e -o pipefail
 
 echo "Shutting down Browserstack tunnel"
 
-PID=$(cat $BROWSER_PROVIDER_READY_FILE);
+killall BrowserStackLocal
 
-# Resolving the PID from the readyfile.
-kill $PID
-
-
-while [[ -n `ps -ef | grep $PID | grep -v "grep"` ]]; do
+while [[ -n `ps -ef | grep "BrowserStackLocal" | grep -v "grep"` ]]; do
   printf "."
   sleep .5
 done
diff --git a/scripts/browserstack/waitfor_tunnel.sh b/scripts/browserstack/waitfor_tunnel.sh
index cb2e7d15324c..23f26952ecd0 100755
--- a/scripts/browserstack/waitfor_tunnel.sh
+++ b/scripts/browserstack/waitfor_tunnel.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,19 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+TUNNEL_LOG="$LOGS_DIR/browserstack-tunnel.log"
 
 # Wait for Connect to be ready before exiting
 # Time out if we wait for more than 2 minutes, so the process won't run forever.
 let "counter=0"
 
+# Exit the process if there are errors reported. Print the tunnel log to the console.
+if [ -f $BROWSER_PROVIDER_ERROR_FILE ]; then
+  echo
+  echo "An error occurred while starting the tunnel. See error:"
+  cat $TUNNEL_LOG
+  exit 5
+fi
+
 while [ ! -f $BROWSER_PROVIDER_READY_FILE ]; do
   let "counter++"