diff --git a/meshtastic/stream_interface.py b/meshtastic/stream_interface.py
index 0db74e3..335ef5a 100644
--- a/meshtastic/stream_interface.py
+++ b/meshtastic/stream_interface.py
@@ -62,8 +62,7 @@ class StreamInterface(MeshInterface):
         # because we want to ensure it is looking for START1)
         p = bytearray([START2] * 32)
         self._writeBytes(p)
-        if not self.noProto:
-            time.sleep(0.1)  # wait 100ms to give device time to start running
+        time.sleep(0.1)  # wait 100ms to give device time to start running
 
         self._rxThread.start()
 
@@ -90,8 +89,7 @@ class StreamInterface(MeshInterface):
             self.stream.write(b)
             self.stream.flush()
             # we sleep here to give the TBeam a chance to work
-            if not self.noProto:
-                time.sleep(0.1)
+            time.sleep(0.1)
 
     def _readBytes(self, length):
         """Read an array of bytes from our stream"""
diff --git a/meshtastic/tcp_interface.py b/meshtastic/tcp_interface.py
index 37e34bb..eb26287 100644
--- a/meshtastic/tcp_interface.py
+++ b/meshtastic/tcp_interface.py
@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@ class TCPInterface(StreamInterface):
         StreamInterface.__init__(self, debugOut=debugOut, noProto=noProto,
                                  connectNow=connectNow)
 
+    def _socket_shutdown(self):
+        """Shutdown the socket.
+           Note: Broke out this line so the exception could be unit tested.
+        """
+        self.socket.shutdown(socket.SHUT_RDWR)
+
     def myConnect(self):
         """Connect to socket"""
         server_address = (self.hostname, self.portNumber)
@@ -48,7 +54,7 @@ class TCPInterface(StreamInterface):
         self._wantExit = True
         if not self.socket is None:
             try:
-                self.socket.shutdown(socket.SHUT_RDWR)
+                self._socket_shutdown()
             except:
                 pass  # Ignore errors in shutdown, because we might have a race with the server
             self.socket.close()
diff --git a/meshtastic/tests/test_tcp_interface.py b/meshtastic/tests/test_tcp_interface.py
index 574dfd1..6d49359 100644
--- a/meshtastic/tests/test_tcp_interface.py
+++ b/meshtastic/tests/test_tcp_interface.py
@@ -27,6 +27,23 @@ def test_TCPInterface(capsys):
         iface.close()
 
 
+@pytest.mark.unit
+def test_TCPInterface_exception():
+    """Test that we can instantiate a TCPInterface"""
+
+    def throw_an_exception():
+        raise ValueError("Fake exception.")
+
+    with patch('meshtastic.tcp_interface.TCPInterface._socket_shutdown') as mock_shutdown:
+        mock_shutdown.side_effect = throw_an_exception
+        with patch('socket.socket') as mock_socket:
+            iface = TCPInterface(hostname='localhost', noProto=True)
+            iface.myConnect()
+            iface.close()
+            assert mock_socket.called
+            assert mock_shutdown.called
+
+
 @pytest.mark.unit
 def test_TCPInterface_without_connecting():
     """Test that we can instantiate a TCPInterface with connectNow as false"""