diff --git a/src/Httpful/Request.php b/src/Httpful/Request.php
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 1de8ecc..147eec2
--- a/src/Httpful/Request.php
+++ b/src/Httpful/Request.php
@@ -201,7 +201,11 @@ public function send()
         $result = curl_exec($this->_ch);
 
         if ($result === false) {
-            $this->_error(curl_error($this->_ch));
+            if ($curlErrorNumber = curl_errno($this->_ch)) {
+                $curlErrorString = curl_error($this->_ch);
+                throw new ConnectionErrorException('Unable to connect: '.$curlErrorNumber.' '.$curlErrorString);
+            }
+
             throw new ConnectionErrorException('Unable to connect.');
         }
 
diff --git a/tests/Httpful/requestTest.php b/tests/Httpful/requestTest.php
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..5977dcc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Httpful/requestTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * @author nick fox <quixand gmail com>
+ */
+namespace Httpful\Test;
+
+class requestTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
+{
+
+    /**
+     * @author Nick Fox
+     * @expectedException        Httpful\Exception\ConnectionErrorException
+     * @expectedExceptionMessage Unable to connect
+     */
+    public function testGet_InvalidURL()
+    {
+        \Httpful\Request::get('unavailable.url')->send();
+    }
+
+}