diff --git a/backend/Cargo.lock b/backend/Cargo.lock
index a048be6..636f2e9 100644
--- a/backend/Cargo.lock
+++ b/backend/Cargo.lock
@@ -209,14 +209,19 @@ dependencies = [
  "bincode",
  "bytes",
  "fnv",
+ "futures",
  "hex",
+ "http",
  "log",
  "num-traits",
  "primitive-types",
  "rustc-hash",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
+ "soketto",
  "thiserror",
+ "tokio",
+ "tokio-util",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1677,6 +1682,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "bimap",
  "bincode",
+ "bytes",
  "common",
  "criterion",
  "futures",
@@ -1821,9 +1827,9 @@ checksum = "cda74da7e1a664f795bb1f8a87ec406fb89a02522cf6e50620d016add6dbbf5c"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "tokio"
-version = "1.8.0"
+version = "1.8.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "570c2eb13b3ab38208130eccd41be92520388791207fde783bda7c1e8ace28d4"
+checksum = "c2602b8af3767c285202012822834005f596c811042315fa7e9f5b12b2a43207"
 dependencies = [
  "autocfg",
  "bytes",
diff --git a/backend/Cargo.toml b/backend/Cargo.toml
index c197214..518633a 100644
--- a/backend/Cargo.toml
+++ b/backend/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,4 +12,7 @@ opt-level = 3
 [profile.release]
 lto = true
 panic = "abort"
-# debug = true
\ No newline at end of file
+## Enabling these seems necessary to get
+## good debug info in Instruments:
+# debug = true
+# codegen-units = 1
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/common/Cargo.toml b/backend/common/Cargo.toml
index 4647890..635483f 100644
--- a/backend/common/Cargo.toml
+++ b/backend/common/Cargo.toml
@@ -9,14 +9,19 @@ license = "GPL-3.0"
 bimap = "0.6.1"
 bytes = "1.0.1"
 fnv = "1.0.7"
+futures = "0.3.15"
 hex = "0.4.3"
+http = "0.2.4"
 log = "0.4"
 num-traits = "0.2"
 primitive-types = { version = "0.9.0", features = ["serde"] }
 rustc-hash = "1.1.0"
 serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = { version = "1.0", features = ["raw_value"] }
+soketto = "0.6.0"
 thiserror = "1.0.24"
+tokio = { version = "1.8.2", features = ["full"] }
+tokio-util = { version = "0.6", features = ["compat"] }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 bincode = "1.3.3"
diff --git a/backend/common/src/lib.rs b/backend/common/src/lib.rs
index 94f2f24..97d597e 100644
--- a/backend/common/src/lib.rs
+++ b/backend/common/src/lib.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ pub mod internal_messages;
 pub mod node_message;
 pub mod node_types;
 pub mod time;
+pub mod ws_client;
 
 mod assign_id;
 mod dense_map;
diff --git a/backend/test_utils/src/ws_client.rs b/backend/common/src/ws_client.rs
similarity index 100%
rename from backend/test_utils/src/ws_client.rs
rename to backend/common/src/ws_client.rs
diff --git a/backend/telemetry_core/Cargo.toml b/backend/telemetry_core/Cargo.toml
index a8102ce..c751052 100644
--- a/backend/telemetry_core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/backend/telemetry_core/Cargo.toml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ license = "GPL-3.0"
 anyhow = "1.0.41"
 bimap = "0.6.1"
 bincode = "1.3.3"
+bytes = "1.0.1"
 common = { path = "../common" }
 futures = "0.3.15"
 hex = "0.4.3"
diff --git a/backend/telemetry_core/src/aggregator/inner_loop.rs b/backend/telemetry_core/src/aggregator/inner_loop.rs
index b3b7786..da20e2a 100644
--- a/backend/telemetry_core/src/aggregator/inner_loop.rs
+++ b/backend/telemetry_core/src/aggregator/inner_loop.rs
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ impl FromStr for FromFeedWebsocket {
 /// The aggregator can these messages back to a feed connection.
 #[derive(Clone, Debug)]
 pub enum ToFeedWebsocket {
-    Bytes(Vec<u8>),
+    Bytes(bytes::Bytes),
 }
 
 /// Instances of this are responsible for handling incoming and
diff --git a/backend/telemetry_core/src/feed_message.rs b/backend/telemetry_core/src/feed_message.rs
index d6986ca..e0e108f 100644
--- a/backend/telemetry_core/src/feed_message.rs
+++ b/backend/telemetry_core/src/feed_message.rs
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ impl FeedMessageSerializer {
 
     /// Return the bytes we've serialized so far and prepare a new buffer. If you're
     /// finished serializing data, prefer [`FeedMessageSerializer::into_finalized`]
-    pub fn finalize(&mut self) -> Option<Vec<u8>> {
+    pub fn finalize(&mut self) -> Option<bytes::Bytes> {
         if self.buffer.is_empty() {
             return None;
         }
@@ -77,17 +77,17 @@ impl FeedMessageSerializer {
 
         let bytes = mem::replace(&mut self.buffer, Vec::with_capacity(BUFCAP));
 
-        Some(bytes)
+        Some(bytes.into())
     }
 
     /// Return the bytes that we've serialized so far, consuming the serializer.
-    pub fn into_finalized(mut self) -> Option<Vec<u8>> {
+    pub fn into_finalized(mut self) -> Option<bytes::Bytes> {
         if self.buffer.is_empty() {
             return None;
         }
 
         self.buffer.push(b']');
-        Some(self.buffer)
+        Some(self.buffer.into())
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/backend/telemetry_core/src/main.rs b/backend/telemetry_core/src/main.rs
index bf45160..15c1b50 100644
--- a/backend/telemetry_core/src/main.rs
+++ b/backend/telemetry_core/src/main.rs
@@ -254,9 +254,7 @@ where
                     ToFeedWebsocket::Bytes(bytes) => bytes
                 };
 
-                log::debug!("Message to feed: {}", std::str::from_utf8(&bytes).unwrap_or("INVALID UTF8"));
-
-                if let Err(e) = websocket.send(ws::Message::binary(bytes)).await {
+                if let Err(e) = websocket.send(ws::Message::binary(&*bytes)).await {
                     log::warn!("Closing feed websocket due to error: {}", e);
                     break;
                 }
diff --git a/backend/telemetry_core/tests/soak_tests.rs b/backend/telemetry_core/tests/soak_tests.rs
index 6b05248..e832bec 100644
--- a/backend/telemetry_core/tests/soak_tests.rs
+++ b/backend/telemetry_core/tests/soak_tests.rs
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ box; MacOS seems to hit limits quicker in general.
 use futures::{ StreamExt };
 use structopt::StructOpt;
 use test_utils::workspace::start_server_release;
-use test_utils::ws_client::{ SentMessage };
+use common::ws_client::{ SentMessage };
 use serde_json::json;
 use std::time::Duration;
 use std::sync::atomic::{ Ordering, AtomicUsize };
diff --git a/backend/telemetry_shard/src/aggregator.rs b/backend/telemetry_shard/src/aggregator.rs
index e6731f9..0f0e04c 100644
--- a/backend/telemetry_shard/src/aggregator.rs
+++ b/backend/telemetry_shard/src/aggregator.rs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ use common::{
     node_types::BlockHash,
     AssignId,
 };
-use futures::{channel::mpsc, future};
+use futures::{channel::mpsc};
 use futures::{Sink, SinkExt, StreamExt};
 use std::collections::{HashMap, HashSet};
 use std::sync::atomic::AtomicU64;
@@ -86,26 +86,33 @@ impl Aggregator {
     pub async fn spawn(telemetry_uri: http::Uri) -> anyhow::Result<Aggregator> {
         let (tx_to_aggregator, rx_from_external) = mpsc::channel(10);
 
-        // Map responses from our connection into messages that will be sent to the aggregator:
-        let tx_from_connection = tx_to_aggregator.clone().with(|msg| {
-            future::ok::<_, mpsc::SendError>(match msg {
-                Message::Connected => ToAggregator::ConnectedToTelemetryCore,
-                Message::Disconnected => ToAggregator::DisconnectedFromTelemetryCore,
-                Message::Data(data) => ToAggregator::FromTelemetryCore(data),
-            })
+        // Establish a resiliant connection to the core (this retries as needed):
+        let (tx_to_telemetry_core, mut rx_from_telemetry_core) =
+            create_ws_connection_to_core(telemetry_uri).await;
+
+        // Forward messages from the telemetry core into the aggregator:
+        let mut tx_to_aggregator2 = tx_to_aggregator.clone();
+        tokio::spawn(async move {
+            while let Some(msg) = rx_from_telemetry_core.next().await {
+                let msg_to_aggregator = match msg {
+                    Message::Connected => ToAggregator::ConnectedToTelemetryCore,
+                    Message::Disconnected => ToAggregator::DisconnectedFromTelemetryCore,
+                    Message::Data(data) => ToAggregator::FromTelemetryCore(data),
+                };
+                if let Err(_) = tx_to_aggregator2.send(msg_to_aggregator).await {
+                    // This will close the ws channels, which themselves log messages.
+                    break
+                }
+            }
         });
 
-        // Establish a resiliant connection to the core (this retries as needed):
-        let tx_to_telemetry_core =
-            create_ws_connection_to_core(tx_from_connection, telemetry_uri).await;
-
-        // Handle any incoming messages in our handler loop:
+        // Start our aggregator loop, handling any incoming messages:
         tokio::spawn(Aggregator::handle_messages(
             rx_from_external,
             tx_to_telemetry_core,
         ));
 
-        // Return a handle to our aggregator:
+        // Return a handle to our aggregator so that we can send in messages to it:
         Ok(Aggregator(Arc::new(AggregatorInternal {
             conn_id: AtomicU64::new(1),
             tx_to_aggregator,
diff --git a/backend/telemetry_shard/src/connection.rs b/backend/telemetry_shard/src/connection.rs
index 62e7aa6..edece48 100644
--- a/backend/telemetry_shard/src/connection.rs
+++ b/backend/telemetry_shard/src/connection.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 use futures::channel::mpsc;
-use futures::{Sink, SinkExt, StreamExt};
-use tokio::net::TcpStream;
-use tokio_util::compat::TokioAsyncReadCompatExt;
+use futures::{SinkExt, StreamExt};
+use common::ws_client;
+use bincode::Options;
 
 #[derive(Clone, Debug)]
 pub enum Message<Out> {
@@ -18,181 +18,112 @@ pub enum Message<Out> {
 ///
 /// Note: have a look at [`common::internal_messages`] to see the different message types exchanged
 /// between aggregator and core.
-pub async fn create_ws_connection_to_core<In, Out, S, E>(
-    mut tx_to_external: S,
+pub async fn create_ws_connection_to_core<In, Out>(
     telemetry_uri: http::Uri,
-) -> mpsc::Sender<In>
+) -> (mpsc::Sender<In>, mpsc::Receiver<Message<Out>>)
 where
-    S: Sink<Message<Out>, Error = E> + Unpin + Send + Clone + 'static,
-    E: std::fmt::Debug + std::fmt::Display + Send + 'static,
     In: serde::Serialize + Send + 'static,
     Out: serde::de::DeserializeOwned + Send + 'static,
 {
-    // Set up a proxy channel to relay messages to the telemetry core, and return one end of it.
-    // Once a connection to the backend is established, we pass messages along to it. If the connection
-    // fails, we
-    let (tx_to_connection_proxy, mut rx_from_external_proxy) = mpsc::channel(10);
-    tokio::spawn(async move {
-        let mut connected = false;
+    let (tx_in, mut rx_in) = mpsc::channel(10);
+    let (mut tx_out, rx_out) = mpsc::channel(10);
 
+    let mut is_connected = false;
+
+    tokio::spawn(async move {
         loop {
             // Throw away any pending messages from the incoming channel so that it
             // doesn't get filled up and begin blocking while we're looping and waiting
             // for a reconnection.
-            while let Ok(Some(_)) = rx_from_external_proxy.try_next() {}
+            while let Ok(Some(_)) = rx_in.try_next() {}
 
-            // The connection will pass messages back to this.
-            let tx_from_connection = tx_to_external.clone();
+            // Try to connect. If connection established, we serialize and forward messages
+            // to/from the core. If the external channels break, we end for good. If the internal
+            // channels break, we loop around and try connecting again.
+            match ws_client::connect(&telemetry_uri).await {
+                Ok((tx_to_core, mut rx_from_core)) => {
+                    is_connected = true;
+                    let mut tx_out = tx_out.clone();
 
-            // Attempt to reconnect.
-            match create_ws_connection_no_retry(tx_from_connection, telemetry_uri.clone()).await {
-                Ok(mut tx_to_connection) => {
-                    connected = true;
-
-                    // Inform the handler loop that we've reconnected.
-                    tx_to_external
-                        .send(Message::Connected)
-                        .await
-                        .expect("must be able to send reconnect msg");
-
-                    // Start forwarding messages on to the backend.
-                    while let Some(msg) = rx_from_external_proxy.next().await {
-                        if let Err(e) = tx_to_connection.send(msg).await {
-                            // Issue forwarding a message to the telemetry core?
-                            // Give up and try to reconnect on the next outer loop iteration.
-                            log::error!(
-                                "Error sending message to websocker server (will reconnect): {}",
-                                e
-                            );
-                            break;
-                        }
+                    if let Err(e) = tx_out.send(Message::Connected).await {
+                        // If receiving end is closed, bail now.
+                        log::warn!("Aggregator is no longer receiving messages from core; disconnecting (permanently): {}", e);
+                        return
                     }
-                }
-                Err(e) => {
+
+                    // Loop, forwarding messages to and from the core until something goes wrong.
+                    loop {
+                        tokio::select! {
+                            msg = rx_from_core.next() => {
+                                let msg = match msg {
+                                    Some(msg) => msg,
+                                    // No more messages from core? core WS is disconnected.
+                                    None => {
+                                        log::warn!("No more messages from core: shutting down connection (will reconnect)");
+                                        break
+                                    }
+                                };
+
+                                let bytes = match msg {
+                                    Ok(ws_client::RecvMessage::Binary(bytes)) => bytes,
+                                    Ok(ws_client::RecvMessage::Text(s)) => s.into_bytes(),
+                                    Err(e) => {
+                                        log::warn!("Unable to receive message from core: shutting down connection (will reconnect): {}", e);
+                                        break;
+                                    }
+                                };
+                                let msg = bincode::options()
+                                    .deserialize(&bytes)
+                                    .expect("internal messages must be deserializable");
+
+                                if let Err(e) = tx_out.send(Message::Data(msg)).await {
+                                    log::error!("Aggregator is no longer receiving messages from core; disconnecting (permanently): {}", e);
+                                    return;
+                                }
+                            },
+                            msg = rx_in.next() => {
+                                let msg = match msg {
+                                    Some(msg) => msg,
+                                    None => {
+                                        log::error!("Aggregator is no longer sending messages to core; disconnecting (permanently)");
+                                        return
+                                    }
+                                };
+
+                                let bytes = bincode::options()
+                                    .serialize(&msg)
+                                    .expect("internal messages must be serializable");
+                                let ws_msg = ws_client::SentMessage::Binary(bytes);
+
+                                if let Err(e) = tx_to_core.unbounded_send(ws_msg) {
+                                    log::warn!("Unable to send message to core; shutting down connection (will reconnect): {}", e);
+                                    break;
+                                }
+                            }
+                        };
+                    }
+                },
+                Err(connect_err) => {
                     // Issue connecting? Wait and try again on the next loop iteration.
                     log::error!(
                         "Error connecting to websocker server (will reconnect): {}",
-                        e
+                        connect_err
                     );
                 }
-            };
-
-            // Tell the aggregator that we're disconnected so that, if we like, we can discard
-            // messages without doing any futher processing on them.
-            if connected {
-                connected = false;
-                let _ = tx_to_external.send(Message::Disconnected).await;
             }
 
-            // Wait a little before trying to reconnect.
+            if is_connected {
+                is_connected = false;
+                if let Err(e) = tx_out.send(Message::Disconnected).await {
+                    log::error!("Aggregator is no longer receiving messages from core; disconnecting (permanently): {}", e);
+                    return;
+                }
+            }
+
+            // Wait a little before we try to connect again.
             tokio::time::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_secs(1)).await;
         }
     });
 
-    tx_to_connection_proxy
-}
-
-/// This spawns a connection to a websocket server, serializing/deserialziing
-/// to/from bincode as messages are sent or received.
-async fn create_ws_connection_no_retry<In, Out, S, E>(
-    mut tx_to_external: S,
-    telemetry_uri: http::Uri,
-) -> anyhow::Result<mpsc::Sender<In>>
-where
-    S: Sink<Message<Out>, Error = E> + Unpin + Send + 'static,
-    E: std::fmt::Debug + std::fmt::Display,
-    In: serde::Serialize + Send + 'static,
-    Out: serde::de::DeserializeOwned + Send + 'static,
-{
-    use bincode::Options;
-    use soketto::handshake::{Client, ServerResponse};
-
-    let host = telemetry_uri.host().unwrap_or("127.0.0.1");
-    let port = telemetry_uri.port_u16().unwrap_or(8000);
-    let path = telemetry_uri.path();
-
-    let socket = TcpStream::connect((host, port)).await?;
-    socket.set_nodelay(true).expect("socket set_nodelay failed");
-
-    // Open a websocket connection with the telemetry core:
-    let mut client = Client::new(socket.compat(), host, &path);
-    let (mut ws_to_connection, mut ws_from_connection) = match client.handshake().await? {
-        ServerResponse::Accepted { .. } => client.into_builder().finish(),
-        ServerResponse::Redirect { status_code, .. } | ServerResponse::Rejected { status_code } => {
-            return Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
-                "Failed to connect to {}{}, status code: {}",
-                host,
-                path,
-                status_code
-            ));
-        }
-    };
-
-    // This task reads data sent from the telemetry core and
-    // forwards it to our aggregator loop:
-    tokio::spawn(async move {
-        loop {
-            let mut data = Vec::new();
-            if let Err(e) = ws_from_connection.receive_data(&mut data).await {
-                // Couldn't receive data may mean all senders are gone, so log
-                // the error and shut this down:
-                log::error!(
-                    "Shutting down websocket connection: Failed to receive data: {}",
-                    e
-                );
-                return;
-            }
-
-            // Attempt to deserialize, and send to our handler loop:
-            match bincode::options().deserialize(&data) {
-                Ok(msg) => {
-                    if let Err(e) = tx_to_external.send(Message::Data(msg)).await {
-                        // Failure to send to our loop likely means it's hit an
-                        // issue and shut down, so bail on this loop as well:
-                        log::error!(
-                            "Shutting down websocket connection: Failed to send data out: {}",
-                            e
-                        );
-                        return;
-                    }
-                }
-                Err(err) => {
-                    // Log the error but otherwise ignore it and keep running:
-                    log::warn!("Failed to decode message from Backend Core: {:?}", err);
-                }
-            }
-        }
-    });
-
-    // This task receives messages from the aggregator,
-    // encodes them and sends them to the telemetry core:
-    let (tx_to_connection, mut rx_from_aggregator) = mpsc::channel(10);
-    tokio::spawn(async move {
-        while let Some(msg) = rx_from_aggregator.next().await {
-            let bytes = bincode::options()
-                .serialize(&msg)
-                .expect("must be able to serialize msg");
-
-            // Any errors sending the message leads to this task ending, which should cascade to
-            // the entire connection being ended.
-            if let Err(e) = ws_to_connection.send_binary_mut(bytes).await {
-                log::error!(
-                    "Shutting down websocket connection: Failed to send data in: {}",
-                    e
-                );
-                return;
-            }
-            if let Err(e) = ws_to_connection.flush().await {
-                log::error!(
-                    "Shutting down websocket connection: Failed to flush data: {}",
-                    e
-                );
-                return;
-            }
-        }
-    });
-
-    // We return a channel that you can send messages down in order to have
-    // them sent to the telemetry core:
-    Ok(tx_to_connection)
-}
+    (tx_in, rx_out)
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/test_utils/src/lib.rs b/backend/test_utils/src/lib.rs
index 5004ef1..445406e 100644
--- a/backend/test_utils/src/lib.rs
+++ b/backend/test_utils/src/lib.rs
@@ -5,10 +5,6 @@ pub mod server;
 /// is the slightly-lossy inverse of the custom serialization we do to feed messages.
 pub mod feed_message_de;
 
-/// A wrapper around soketto to simplify the process of establishing connections
-/// and sending messages. Provides cancel-safe message channels.
-pub mod ws_client;
-
 /// A couple of macros to make it easier to test for the presense of things (mainly, feed messages)
 /// in an iterable container.
 #[macro_use]
diff --git a/backend/test_utils/src/server/channels.rs b/backend/test_utils/src/server/channels.rs
index 2490544..2480987 100644
--- a/backend/test_utils/src/server/channels.rs
+++ b/backend/test_utils/src/server/channels.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 use std::{ops::{Deref, DerefMut}, time::Duration};
 
 use crate::feed_message_de::FeedMessage;
-use crate::ws_client;
+use common::ws_client;
 use futures::{Sink, SinkExt, Stream, StreamExt};
 
 /// Wrap a `ws_client::Sender` with convenient utility methods for shard connections
diff --git a/backend/test_utils/src/server/server.rs b/backend/test_utils/src/server/server.rs
index 0ef9d4a..97d94eb 100644
--- a/backend/test_utils/src/server/server.rs
+++ b/backend/test_utils/src/server/server.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 use super::{channels, utils};
-use crate::ws_client;
+use common::ws_client;
 use common::{id_type, DenseMap};
 use std::ffi::OsString;
 use std::marker::PhantomData;
diff --git a/backend/test_utils/src/server/utils.rs b/backend/test_utils/src/server/utils.rs
index 8de17d9..522d490 100644
--- a/backend/test_utils/src/server/utils.rs
+++ b/backend/test_utils/src/server/utils.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use crate::ws_client;
+use common::ws_client;
 use anyhow::{anyhow, Context};
 use tokio::io::BufReader;
 use tokio::io::{AsyncBufReadExt, AsyncRead, AsyncWrite};