diff --git a/lib/ws/connection.js b/lib/ws/connection.js
index 65dcbde..62de57f 100644
--- a/lib/ws/connection.js
+++ b/lib/ws/connection.js
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@ var util = require('../_util'),
 var _events = require('../_events');
 var Mixin = require('../lang/mixin');
 
+var CLOSE_FRAME = new Buffer(2);
+    CLOSE_FRAME[0] = 0xFF;
+    CLOSE_FRAME[1] = 0x00;
+
 /*-----------------------------------------------
   The Connection:
 -----------------------------------------------*/
@@ -183,9 +187,9 @@ util.inherits(Connection, _events.EventEmitter);
   Various utility style functions:
 -----------------------------------------------*/
 function write(connection, data) {
-  debug(connection.id, 'write: ', (new Buffer(data)).inspect());
+  debug(connection.id, 'write: ', data.inspect());
   if (connection._socket.writable) {
-    return connection._socket.write(data, 'binary');
+    return connection._socket.write(data);
   }
   return false;
 }
@@ -282,7 +286,14 @@ Connection.prototype.inspect = function() {
 
 Connection.prototype.write = function(data) {
   if (this._state === 4) {
-    return write(this, '\u0000' + data + '\uffff');
+    var byteLen = Buffer.byteLength(data, 'utf8'),
+        bytes = new Buffer(byteLen+2);
+    
+    bytes[0] = 0x00;
+    bytes.write(data, 1, 'utf8');
+    bytes[byteLen + 1] = 0xFF;
+    
+    return write(this, bytes);
   } else {
     debug(this.id, '\033[31mCould not send.');
   }
@@ -303,7 +314,7 @@ Connection.prototype.close = function() {
   var connection = this;
 
   if (connection._state == 4 && connection._socket.writable) {
-    write(connection, '\xff\x00');
+    write(connection, CLOSE_FRAME);
   }
 
   // Add a two second timeout for closing connections.
@@ -423,7 +434,7 @@ util.inherits(Parser, events.EventEmitter);
 Parser.prototype.write = function(data) {
   var pkt, msg;
 
-  debug('parse.write', (new Buffer(data)).inspect());
+  debug('parse.write', data.inspect());
 
   for (var i = 0, len = data.length; i < len; i++) {
     if (this.order == 0) {