diff --git a/selfdrive/athena/athenad.py b/selfdrive/athena/athenad.py
index 27e8b587f1..8f08c390ba 100755
--- a/selfdrive/athena/athenad.py
+++ b/selfdrive/athena/athenad.py
@@ -280,6 +280,8 @@ def ws_proxy_send(ws, local_sock, signal_sock, end_event):
       cloudlog.exception("athenad.ws_proxy_send.exception")
       end_event.set()
 
+  signal_sock.close()
+
 
 def ws_recv(ws, end_event):
   while not end_event.is_set():
diff --git a/selfdrive/athena/tests/helpers.py b/selfdrive/athena/tests/helpers.py
index b30ff4b3af..ef64968f7b 100644
--- a/selfdrive/athena/tests/helpers.py
+++ b/selfdrive/athena/tests/helpers.py
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 import http.server
-import multiprocessing
-import queue
 import random
 import requests
 import socket
@@ -8,6 +6,7 @@ import time
 from functools import wraps
 from multiprocessing import Process
 
+from common.timeout import Timeout
 
 class EchoSocket():
   def __init__(self, port):
@@ -79,41 +78,27 @@ class HTTPRequestHandler(http.server.SimpleHTTPRequestHandler):
     self.end_headers()
 
 
-def http_server(port_queue, **kwargs):
-  while 1:
-    try:
-      port = random.randrange(40000, 50000)
-      port_queue.put(port)
-      http.server.test(**kwargs, port=port)
-    except OSError as e:
-      if e.errno == 98:
-        continue
-
-
 def with_http_server(func):
   @wraps(func)
   def inner(*args, **kwargs):
-    port_queue = multiprocessing.Queue()
-    host = '127.0.0.1'
-    p = Process(target=http_server,
-                args=(port_queue,),
-                kwargs={
-                  'HandlerClass': HTTPRequestHandler,
-                  'bind': host})
-    p.start()
-    start = time.monotonic()
-    port = None
-    while 1:
-      if time.monotonic() - start > 10:
-        raise Exception('HTTP Server did not start')
-
-      try:
-        port = port_queue.get(timeout=0.1)
-        requests.put(f'http://{host}:{port}/qlog.bz2', data='')
-        break
-      except (requests.exceptions.ConnectionError, queue.Empty):
+    with Timeout(2, 'HTTP Server did not start'):
+      p = None
+      host = '127.0.0.1'
+      while p is None or p.exitcode is not None:
+        port = random.randrange(40000, 50000)
+        p = Process(target=http.server.test,
+                    kwargs={'port': port, 'HandlerClass': HTTPRequestHandler, 'bind': host})
+        p.start()
         time.sleep(0.1)
 
+    with Timeout(2):
+      while True:
+        try:
+          requests.put(f'http://{host}:{port}/qlog.bz2', data='')
+          break
+        except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError:
+          time.sleep(0.1)
+
     try:
       return func(*args, f'http://{host}:{port}', **kwargs)
     finally:
diff --git a/selfdrive/athena/tests/test_athenad.py b/selfdrive/athena/tests/test_athenad.py
index 45e12af03a..503aacb032 100755
--- a/selfdrive/athena/tests/test_athenad.py
+++ b/selfdrive/athena/tests/test_athenad.py
@@ -64,10 +64,8 @@ class TestAthenadMethods(unittest.TestCase):
 
     try:
       item = athenad.UploadItem(path=fn, url="http://localhost:1238", headers={}, created_at=int(time.time()*1000), id='')
-      try:
+      with self.assertRaises(requests.exceptions.ConnectionError):
         athenad._do_upload(item)
-      except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError:
-        pass
 
       item = athenad.UploadItem(path=fn, url=f"{host}/qlog.bz2", headers={}, created_at=int(time.time()*1000), id='')
       resp = athenad._do_upload(item)