diff --git a/telemetry/telemetrybuffer.go b/telemetry/telemetrybuffer.go
index 0ea13f4e0a..7fc49e7eb3 100644
--- a/telemetry/telemetrybuffer.go
+++ b/telemetry/telemetrybuffer.go
@@ -123,12 +123,14 @@ func (tb *TelemetryBuffer) StartServer() error {
 							tb.connections = remove(tb.connections, index)
 						}
 					}()
-
+					reader := bufio.NewReader(conn)
 					for {
-						reportStr, err := read(conn)
-						if err != nil {
+						reportStr, readErr := reader.ReadBytes(Delimiter)
+						if readErr != nil {
 							return
 						}
+						reportStr = reportStr[:len(reportStr)-1]
+
 						var tmp map[string]interface{}
 						err = json.Unmarshal(reportStr, &tmp)
 						if err != nil {
@@ -195,16 +197,6 @@ func (tb *TelemetryBuffer) PushData(ctx context.Context) {
 	}
 }
 
-// read - read from the file descriptor
-func read(conn net.Conn) (b []byte, err error) {
-	b, err = bufio.NewReader(conn).ReadBytes(Delimiter)
-	if err == nil {
-		b = b[:len(b)-1]
-	}
-
-	return
-}
-
 // Write - write to the file descriptor.
 func (tb *TelemetryBuffer) Write(b []byte) (c int, err error) {
 	buf := make([]byte, len(b))
diff --git a/telemetry/telemetrybuffer_test.go b/telemetry/telemetrybuffer_test.go
index f226c6a87b..cdb79849f7 100644
--- a/telemetry/telemetrybuffer_test.go
+++ b/telemetry/telemetrybuffer_test.go
@@ -67,6 +67,36 @@ func TestClientConnClose(t *testing.T) {
 	tbClient.Close()
 }
 
+func TestCloseOnWriteError(t *testing.T) {
+	tbServer, closeTBServer := createTBServer(t)
+	defer closeTBServer()
+
+	tbClient := NewTelemetryBuffer()
+	err := tbClient.Connect()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	defer tbClient.Close()
+
+	data := []byte("{\"good\":1}")
+	_, err = tbClient.Write(data)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	// need to wait for connection to populate in server
+	time.Sleep(1 * time.Second)
+	tbServer.mutex.Lock()
+	conns := tbServer.connections
+	tbServer.mutex.Unlock()
+	require.Len(t, conns, 1)
+
+	// the connection should be automatically closed on failure
+	badData := []byte("} malformed json }}}")
+	_, err = tbClient.Write(badData)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	time.Sleep(1 * time.Second)
+	tbServer.mutex.Lock()
+	conns = tbServer.connections
+	tbServer.mutex.Unlock()
+	require.Empty(t, conns)
+}
+
 func TestWrite(t *testing.T) {
 	_, closeTBServer := createTBServer(t)
 	defer closeTBServer()
@@ -84,8 +114,8 @@ func TestWrite(t *testing.T) {
 	}{
 		{
 			name:    "write",
-			data:    []byte("testdata"),
-			want:    len("testdata") + 1, // +1 due to Delimiter('\n)
+			data:    []byte("{\"testdata\":1}"),
+			want:    len("{\"testdata\":1}") + 1, // +1 due to Delimiter('\n)
 			wantErr: false,
 		},
 		{