diff --git a/src/broadcaster.zig b/src/broadcaster.zig
index 1035825..5f058ac 100644
--- a/src/broadcaster.zig
+++ b/src/broadcaster.zig
@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@ const ping_interval_ns: u64 = 30 * std.time.ns_per_s;
 const ping_timeout_ns: u64 = 5 * std.time.ns_per_s;
 
 pub const Consumer = struct {
-    const BUFFER_CAP = 8192;
+    const BUFFER_CAP = 65536;
 
     conn: *websocket.Conn,
     allocator: Allocator,
@@ -427,7 +427,7 @@ pub const Consumer = struct {
                 defer f.release();
                 self.conn.writeBin(f.data) catch {
                     self.alive.store(false, .release);
-                    return;
+                    break;
                 };
                 self.last_send_time = Io.Timestamp.now(self.io, .real).nanoseconds;
             } else {
@@ -444,6 +444,11 @@ pub const Consumer = struct {
                 f.release();
             } else break;
         }
+        // close the connection from the writeLoop thread to unblock readLoop.
+        // this MUST happen here, not from the broadcast thread — closing from
+        // broadcast races with readLoop's setsockopt/read calls on the socket,
+        // causing EBADF → unreachable panic under ReleaseSafe.
+        self.conn.close(.{}) catch {};
     }
 
     fn maybePing(self: *Consumer) void {
@@ -622,13 +627,14 @@ pub const Broadcaster = struct {
         if (self.error_frame) |ef| {
             consumer.conn.writeBin(ef) catch {};
         }
-        // signal consumer to stop — writeLoop will exit, then Handler.close →
-        // removeConsumer handles actual shutdown + destroy.
-        // IMPORTANT: do NOT spawn a plain std.Thread for cleanup — it would call
-        // Evented future cancel / mutex ops from a non-Uring thread → SIGSEGV.
+        // signal consumer to stop — writeLoop checks alive and exits, then
+        // Handler.close → removeConsumer handles shutdown + destroy.
+        // do NOT close the socket here: readLoop (websocket server thread) may
+        // be calling setsockopt/read on it concurrently. closing from a third
+        // thread causes EBADF → unreachable panic in posix.setsockopt under
+        // ReleaseSafe. let writeLoop's exit trigger the natural close sequence.
         consumer.alive.store(false, .release);
         consumer.cond.signal(consumer.io);
-        consumer.conn.close(.{}) catch {};
         // consumer is removed from list by broadcast() caller (swapRemove).
         // cleanup deferred to removeConsumer to avoid double-destroy.
     }