diff --git a/exchange/bitswap/wantmanager.go b/exchange/bitswap/wantmanager.go
index 3b4626a4d..2fae23515 100644
--- a/exchange/bitswap/wantmanager.go
+++ b/exchange/bitswap/wantmanager.go
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@ type msgQueue struct {
 	out     bsmsg.BitSwapMessage
 	network bsnet.BitSwapNetwork
 
+	refcnt int
+
 	work chan struct{}
 	done chan struct{}
 }
@@ -101,13 +103,13 @@ func (pm *WantManager) SendBlock(ctx context.Context, env *engine.Envelope) {
 }
 
 func (pm *WantManager) startPeerHandler(p peer.ID) *msgQueue {
-	_, ok := pm.peers[p]
+	mq, ok := pm.peers[p]
 	if ok {
-		// TODO: log an error?
+		mq.refcnt++
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	mq := pm.newMsgQueue(p)
+	mq = pm.newMsgQueue(p)
 
 	// new peer, we will want to give them our full wantlist
 	fullwantlist := bsmsg.New(true)
@@ -129,6 +131,11 @@ func (pm *WantManager) stopPeerHandler(p peer.ID) {
 		return
 	}
 
+	pq.refcnt--
+	if pq.refcnt > 0 {
+		return
+	}
+
 	close(pq.done)
 	delete(pm.peers, p)
 }
@@ -247,6 +254,7 @@ func (wm *WantManager) newMsgQueue(p peer.ID) *msgQueue {
 	mq.work = make(chan struct{}, 1)
 	mq.network = wm.network
 	mq.p = p
+	mq.refcnt = 1
 
 	return mq
 }
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0130-multinode.sh b/test/sharness/t0130-multinode.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..7ba364ec5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/sharness/t0130-multinode.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2015 Jeromy Johnson
+# MIT Licensed; see the LICENSE file in this repository.
+#
+
+test_description="Test multiple ipfs nodes"
+
+. lib/test-lib.sh
+
+export IPTB_ROOT="`pwd`/.iptb"
+
+ipfsi() {
+	dir="$1"
+	shift
+	IPFS_PATH="$IPTB_ROOT/$dir" ipfs $@
+}
+
+check_has_connection() {
+	node=$1
+	ipfsi $node swarm peers | grep ipfs > /dev/null
+}
+
+startup_cluster() {
+	test_expect_success "start up nodes" '
+		iptb start
+	'
+
+	test_expect_success "connect nodes to eachother" '
+		iptb connect [1-4] 0
+	'
+
+	test_expect_success "nodes are connected" '
+		check_has_connection 0 &&
+		check_has_connection 1 &&
+		check_has_connection 2 &&
+		check_has_connection 3 &&
+		check_has_connection 4
+	'
+}
+
+check_file_fetch() {
+	node=$1
+	fhash=$2
+	fname=$3
+
+	test_expect_success "can fetch file" '
+		ipfsi $node cat $fhash > fetch_out
+	'
+
+	test_expect_success "file looks good" '
+		test_cmp $fname fetch_out
+	'
+}
+
+run_basic_test() {
+	startup_cluster 
+
+	test_expect_success "add a file on node1" '
+		random 1000000 > filea &&
+		FILEA_HASH=$(ipfsi 1 add -q filea)
+	'
+
+	check_file_fetch 4 $FILEA_HASH filea
+	check_file_fetch 3 $FILEA_HASH filea
+	check_file_fetch 2 $FILEA_HASH filea
+	check_file_fetch 1 $FILEA_HASH filea
+	check_file_fetch 0 $FILEA_HASH filea
+
+	test_expect_success "shut down nodes" '
+		iptb stop
+	'
+}
+
+test_expect_success "set up tcp testbed" '
+	iptb init -n 5 -p 0 -f --bootstrap=none
+'
+
+run_basic_test
+
+test_done