diff --git a/firebase-ai/CHANGELOG.md b/firebase-ai/CHANGELOG.md
index 0d4a2333f7d..4432555a470 100644
--- a/firebase-ai/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/firebase-ai/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # Unreleased
 
 - [changed] **Breaking Change**: Removed the `candidateCount` option from `LiveGenerationConfig`
+- [changed] Added better error messages to `ServiceConnectionHandshakeFailedException`
 
 # 17.3.0
 
diff --git a/firebase-ai/src/main/kotlin/com/google/firebase/ai/LiveGenerativeModel.kt b/firebase-ai/src/main/kotlin/com/google/firebase/ai/LiveGenerativeModel.kt
index a696ddd5f73..d5afca6b960 100644
--- a/firebase-ai/src/main/kotlin/com/google/firebase/ai/LiveGenerativeModel.kt
+++ b/firebase-ai/src/main/kotlin/com/google/firebase/ai/LiveGenerativeModel.kt
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import com.google.firebase.ai.type.Tool
 import com.google.firebase.annotations.concurrent.Blocking
 import com.google.firebase.appcheck.interop.InteropAppCheckTokenProvider
 import com.google.firebase.auth.internal.InternalAuthProvider
+import io.ktor.client.plugins.websocket.DefaultClientWebSocketSession
 import io.ktor.websocket.Frame
 import io.ktor.websocket.close
 import io.ktor.websocket.readBytes
@@ -114,8 +115,9 @@ internal constructor(
         )
         .toInternal()
     val data: String = Json.encodeToString(clientMessage)
+    var webSession: DefaultClientWebSocketSession? = null
     try {
-      val webSession = controller.getWebSocketSession(location)
+      webSession = controller.getWebSocketSession(location)
       webSession.send(Frame.Text(data))
       val receivedJsonStr = webSession.incoming.receive().readBytes().toString(Charsets.UTF_8)
       val receivedJson = JSON.parseToJsonElement(receivedJsonStr)
@@ -131,7 +133,10 @@ internal constructor(
         throw ServiceConnectionHandshakeFailedException("Unable to connect to the server")
       }
     } catch (e: ClosedReceiveChannelException) {
-      throw ServiceConnectionHandshakeFailedException("Channel was closed by the server", e)
+      val reason = webSession?.closeReason?.await()
+      val message =
+        "Channel was closed by the server.${if(reason!=null) " Details: ${reason.message}" else "" }"
+      throw ServiceConnectionHandshakeFailedException(message, e)
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/firebase-ai/src/main/kotlin/com/google/firebase/ai/common/APIController.kt b/firebase-ai/src/main/kotlin/com/google/firebase/ai/common/APIController.kt
index 720b2c50a63..b199698aa7b 100644
--- a/firebase-ai/src/main/kotlin/com/google/firebase/ai/common/APIController.kt
+++ b/firebase-ai/src/main/kotlin/com/google/firebase/ai/common/APIController.kt
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ import io.ktor.client.engine.HttpClientEngine
 import io.ktor.client.engine.okhttp.OkHttp
 import io.ktor.client.plugins.HttpTimeout
 import io.ktor.client.plugins.contentnegotiation.ContentNegotiation
-import io.ktor.client.plugins.websocket.ClientWebSocketSession
+import io.ktor.client.plugins.websocket.DefaultClientWebSocketSession
 import io.ktor.client.plugins.websocket.WebSockets
 import io.ktor.client.plugins.websocket.webSocketSession
 import io.ktor.client.request.HttpRequestBuilder
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ internal constructor(
         "wss://firebasevertexai.googleapis.com/ws/google.firebase.vertexai.v1beta.GenerativeService/BidiGenerateContent?key=$key"
     }
 
-  suspend fun getWebSocketSession(location: String): ClientWebSocketSession =
+  suspend fun getWebSocketSession(location: String): DefaultClientWebSocketSession =
     client.webSocketSession(getBidiEndpoint(location)) { applyCommonHeaders() }
 
   fun generateContentStream(
diff --git a/firebase-ai/src/main/kotlin/com/google/firebase/ai/type/LiveSession.kt b/firebase-ai/src/main/kotlin/com/google/firebase/ai/type/LiveSession.kt
index a91d7e4aedf..ccdc3e7fe95 100644
--- a/firebase-ai/src/main/kotlin/com/google/firebase/ai/type/LiveSession.kt
+++ b/firebase-ai/src/main/kotlin/com/google/firebase/ai/type/LiveSession.kt
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ import com.google.firebase.ai.common.util.CancelledCoroutineScope
 import com.google.firebase.ai.common.util.accumulateUntil
 import com.google.firebase.ai.common.util.childJob
 import com.google.firebase.annotations.concurrent.Blocking
-import io.ktor.client.plugins.websocket.ClientWebSocketSession
+import io.ktor.client.plugins.websocket.DefaultClientWebSocketSession
 import io.ktor.websocket.Frame
 import io.ktor.websocket.close
 import io.ktor.websocket.readBytes
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ import kotlinx.serialization.json.Json
 @OptIn(ExperimentalSerializationApi::class)
 public class LiveSession
 internal constructor(
-  private val session: ClientWebSocketSession,
+  private val session: DefaultClientWebSocketSession,
   @Blocking private val blockingDispatcher: CoroutineContext,
   private var audioHelper: AudioHelper? = null,
   private val firebaseApp: FirebaseApp,