diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1040bf2..e666cad 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -121,9 +121,9 @@ Care has been taken to be as reliable as possible, because sending metrics shoul
 - All API-visible data structures are immutable and concurrency-friendly
 - Network writes are serialized through Akka actors
 - Exceptions are ignored silently (only logged to the akka event bus)
+- Failed connections are retried at most twice per second
 
 Remaining items include :
-- Add explicit unit tests for TCP reconnections (which already work thanks to Akka automatically respawning failed actors).
 - Hybrid tcp/udp connection mode
 - Retrying failed Writes after reconnecting (with a counter)
 - Shutdown/closing
diff --git a/src/main/scala/net/benmur/riemann/client/ReliableIO.scala b/src/main/scala/net/benmur/riemann/client/ReliableIO.scala
index 1ae9cbf..6c0f541 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/net/benmur/riemann/client/ReliableIO.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/net/benmur/riemann/client/ReliableIO.scala
@@ -3,24 +3,22 @@ package net.benmur.riemann.client
 import java.io.{ DataInputStream, DataOutputStream }
 import java.net.{ Socket, SocketAddress, SocketException }
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong
-
 import scala.annotation.implicitNotFound
-
 import com.aphyr.riemann.Proto
-
 import akka.actor.{ Actor, ActorLogging, ActorRef, ActorSystem, OneForOneStrategy, Props }
-import akka.actor.SupervisorStrategy.Restart
+import akka.actor.SupervisorStrategy._
 import akka.actor.actorRef2Scala
 import akka.dispatch.{ Future, Promise }
 import akka.pattern.ask
 import akka.util.Timeout
 import akka.util.duration.intToDurationInt
+import akka.actor.ActorInitializationException
 
 trait ReliableIO {
   private val nClients = new AtomicLong(0L) // FIXME this should be more global
 
   private[this] class ReliableConnectionActor(where: SocketAddress, factory: Reliable#SocketFactory, dispatcherId: Option[String])(implicit system: ActorSystem) extends Actor {
-    override val supervisorStrategy = OneForOneStrategy(maxNrOfRetries = 36000, withinTimeRange = 1 hour) { // This needs to be more reasonable
+    override val supervisorStrategy = OneForOneStrategy(maxNrOfRetries = 2, withinTimeRange = 1 second) { // This needs to be more reasonable
       case _ => Restart
     }
 
@@ -71,10 +69,10 @@ trait ReliableIO {
   }
 
   class TcpConnectionActor(where: SocketAddress, factory: Reliable#SocketFactory) extends Actor with ActorLogging {
-    val connection = factory(where)
-    val outputStream = new DataOutputStream(connection.outputStream)
-    val inputStream = new DataInputStream(connection.inputStream)
-    println("actor init")
+    lazy val connection = factory(where)
+    lazy val outputStream = new DataOutputStream(connection.outputStream)
+    lazy val inputStream = new DataInputStream(connection.inputStream)
+
     def receive = {
       case WriteBinary(ab) =>
         try {
@@ -88,7 +86,8 @@ trait ReliableIO {
           case e: SocketException => throw e
           case exception =>
             log.error(exception, "could not send or receive data")
-            sender ! Proto.Msg.newBuilder.setError(exception.getMessage).setOk(false).build
+            val message = Option(exception.getMessage) getOrElse "(no message)"
+            sender ! Proto.Msg.newBuilder.setError(message).setOk(false).build
         }
     }
   }
diff --git a/src/test/scala/net/benmur/riemann/client/ReliableIOTest.scala b/src/test/scala/net/benmur/riemann/client/ReliableIOTest.scala
index 5dab22b..3d77f44 100644
--- a/src/test/scala/net/benmur/riemann/client/ReliableIOTest.scala
+++ b/src/test/scala/net/benmur/riemann/client/ReliableIOTest.scala
@@ -2,18 +2,17 @@ package net.benmur.riemann.client
 
 import java.io.{ ByteArrayInputStream, ByteArrayOutputStream, DataInputStream, DataOutputStream }
 import java.net.SocketAddress
-
 import org.scalamock.ProxyMockFactory
 import org.scalamock.scalatest.MockFactory
 import org.scalatest.FunSuite
 import org.scalatest.matchers.ShouldMatchers
-
 import com.aphyr.riemann.Proto
-
 import akka.actor.ActorSystem
 import akka.dispatch.Await
 import akka.testkit.CallingThreadDispatcher
 import akka.util.duration.intToDurationInt
+import java.io.InputStream
+import java.net.SocketException
 
 class ReliableIOTest extends FunSuite
     with testingsupport.ImplicitActorSystem
@@ -104,4 +103,66 @@ class ReliableIOTest extends FunSuite
     val resp = Await.result(respFuture, 1 second)
     resp should be === Seq(event, event2)
   }
+
+  test("reconnect in case of SocketException while reading") {
+    val inputStream = new InputStream {
+      override def read = throw new SocketException
+    }
+
+    val os = new ByteArrayOutputStream
+
+    val wrapper = mock[ConnectedSocketWrapper]
+    wrapper expects 'inputStream returning inputStream twice;
+    wrapper expects 'outputStream returning os twice
+
+    val socketFactory = mockFunction[SocketAddress, ConnectedSocketWrapper]
+    socketFactory expects address returning wrapper twice
+
+    val conn = implicitly[ConnectionBuilder[Reliable]].buildConnection(address, Some(socketFactory), Some(CallingThreadDispatcher.Id))
+
+    // TODO need to test that automatic resending works (two messages should be sent instead of one)
+    implicitly[SendAndExpectFeedback[Query, Iterable[EventPart], Reliable]].send(conn, Write(Query("true")))
+
+    implicitly[SendAndExpectFeedback[Query, Iterable[EventPart], Reliable]].send(conn, Write(Query("true")))
+
+    val queryData = protoMsgQuery.toByteArray
+    val out = os.toByteArray
+    val is = new ByteArrayInputStream(out)
+    val dis = new DataInputStream(is)
+    
+    dis.readInt should be === queryData.length
+    val msg1 = Array.ofDim[Byte](queryData.length)
+    dis.readFully(msg1)
+    msg1 should be === queryData
+    
+    // 2 messages were written because it crashed during the 1st response read, after writing
+    dis.readInt should be === queryData.length
+    val msg2 = Array.ofDim[Byte](queryData.length)
+    dis.readFully(msg2)
+    msg2 should be === queryData
+  }
+
+  test("reconnect in case of SocketException while connecting") {
+    val wrapper = mock[ConnectedSocketWrapper]
+    val socketFactory = mockFunction[SocketAddress, ConnectedSocketWrapper]
+
+    val os = new ByteArrayOutputStream
+
+    socketFactory expects address throwing new SocketException once;
+    socketFactory expects address returning wrapper once;
+    wrapper expects 'inputStream returning new ByteArrayInputStream(Array.ofDim[Byte](0)) once;
+    wrapper expects 'outputStream returning os once
+
+    val conn = implicitly[ConnectionBuilder[Reliable]].buildConnection(address, Some(socketFactory), Some(CallingThreadDispatcher.Id))
+
+    // TODO need to test that automatic resending works (two messages should be sent instead of one)
+    implicitly[SendAndExpectFeedback[Query, Iterable[EventPart], Reliable]].send(conn, Write(Query("true")))
+
+    implicitly[SendAndExpectFeedback[Query, Iterable[EventPart], Reliable]].send(conn, Write(Query("true")))
+
+    val out = os.toByteArray
+    val queryData = protoMsgQuery.toByteArray
+    new DataInputStream(new ByteArrayInputStream(out)).readInt should be === queryData.length
+    out.slice(4, out.length) should be === queryData
+  }
 }
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