diff --git a/relay.go b/relay.go
index df7ffe3..a56e42d 100644
--- a/relay.go
+++ b/relay.go
@@ -174,7 +174,18 @@ func (r *Relay) String() string {
 func (r *Relay) Context() context.Context { return r.connectionContext }
 
 // IsConnected returns true if the connection to this relay seems to be active.
-func (r *Relay) IsConnected() bool { return !r.closed.Load() }
+func (r *Relay) IsConnected() bool {
+	if r.closed.Load() {
+		return false
+	}
+	if r.conn == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	if r.connectionContext == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	return r.connectionContext.Err() == nil
+}
 
 // Connect tries to establish a websocket connection to r.URL.
 // If the context expires before the connection is complete, an error is returned.
@@ -576,7 +587,7 @@ func (r *Relay) publish(ctx context.Context, id ID, env Envelope) error {
 // Remember to cancel subscriptions, either by calling `.Unsub()` on them or ensuring their `context.Context` will be canceled at some point.
 // Failure to do that will result in a huge number of halted goroutines being created.
 func (r *Relay) Subscribe(ctx context.Context, filter Filter, opts SubscriptionOptions) (*Subscription, error) {
-	if r.conn == nil || r.closed.Load() {
+	if !r.IsConnected() {
 		return nil, ErrDisconnected
 	}
 
@@ -651,11 +662,13 @@ func (r *Relay) PrepareSubscription(ctx context.Context, filter Filter, opts Sub
 	go func() {
 		<-sub.Context.Done()
 
-		// mark subscription as closed and send a CLOSE to the relay (naïve sync.Once implementation)
+		// mark subscription as closed and send a CLOSE to the relay (naive sync.Once implementation)
 		if sub.live.CompareAndSwap(true, false) {
 			closeMsg := CloseEnvelope(sub.id)
 			closeb, _ := (&closeMsg).MarshalJSON()
-			sub.Relay.Write(closeb)
+			if err := sub.Relay.WriteWithError(closeb); err != nil {
+				_ = sub.Relay.close(err)
+			}
 		}
 
 		// remove subscription from our map