diff --git a/src/providers/HTTPProvider.ts b/src/providers/HTTPProvider.ts
index e6e6a3c..3472f1c 100644
--- a/src/providers/HTTPProvider.ts
+++ b/src/providers/HTTPProvider.ts
@@ -72,9 +72,17 @@ export class HTTPProvider {
       fetch(this.host, params).then(
         async ($) => {
           if (!$.ok) {
+            // Drain the error response body so the underlying connection is released: native
+            // fetch (undici) and browser fetch keep the socket checked out until the body is
+            // read or cancelled. Reading it also lets us surface the server's error detail,
+            // which is far more useful than a bare status code when debugging RPC failures.
+            // Best-effort and bounded: ignore read failures and cap the detail length.
+            const errorBody = typeof $.text === 'function' ? await $.text().catch(() => '') : ''
+            const detail = errorBody.trim().slice(0, 512)
+            const message = 'External error. response code: ' + $.status + (detail ? ' — ' + detail : '')
             /* istanbul ignore if */
-            if (this.debug) console.log('ERR << ' + JSON.stringify($))
-            callback(new Error('External error. response code: ' + $.status))
+            if (this.debug) console.log('ERR << ' + message)
+            callback(new Error(message))
           } else {
             const json = await $.json()
             /* istanbul ignore if */
diff --git a/test/HTTPProvider.spec.ts b/test/HTTPProvider.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5cf52b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/HTTPProvider.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+import { HTTPProvider } from '../src/providers/HTTPProvider'
+
+type SendResult = { err: Error | null; result: any }
+
+function sendAsync(provider: HTTPProvider, payload: any): Promise<SendResult> {
+  return new Promise((resolve) => {
+    provider.sendAsync(payload, (err, result) => resolve({ err: err ?? null, result }))
+  })
+}
+
+describe('when sending an async request through the HTTPProvider', () => {
+  let fetchMock: jest.Mock
+  let provider: HTTPProvider
+  let payload: any
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    payload = { id: 1, method: 'eth_chainId', params: [] }
+  })
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    jest.resetAllMocks()
+  })
+
+  describe('and the response is not ok', () => {
+    describe('and the body can be read', () => {
+      let text: jest.Mock
+
+      beforeEach(() => {
+        text = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue('{"error":"rate limited"}')
+        fetchMock = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: false, status: 429, text })
+        provider = new HTTPProvider('http://localhost:8545', { fetch: fetchMock })
+      })
+
+      it('should drain the response body to release the connection', async () => {
+        await sendAsync(provider, payload)
+
+        expect(text).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+      })
+
+      it('should call back with an error carrying the response status', async () => {
+        const { err } = await sendAsync(provider, payload)
+
+        expect(err?.message).toContain('429')
+      })
+
+      it('should surface the server error detail in the error message', async () => {
+        const { err } = await sendAsync(provider, payload)
+
+        expect(err?.message).toContain('rate limited')
+      })
+    })
+
+    describe('and reading the body fails', () => {
+      let text: jest.Mock
+
+      beforeEach(() => {
+        text = jest.fn().mockRejectedValue(new Error('connection reset'))
+        fetchMock = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: false, status: 500, text })
+        provider = new HTTPProvider('http://localhost:8545', { fetch: fetchMock })
+      })
+
+      it('should still call back with an error carrying the status', async () => {
+        const { err } = await sendAsync(provider, payload)
+
+        expect(err?.message).toContain('500')
+      })
+    })
+
+    describe('and the fetch response has no text method', () => {
+      beforeEach(() => {
+        fetchMock = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: false, status: 503 })
+        provider = new HTTPProvider('http://localhost:8545', { fetch: fetchMock })
+      })
+
+      it('should still call back with an error carrying the status', async () => {
+        const { err } = await sendAsync(provider, payload)
+
+        expect(err?.message).toContain('503')
+      })
+    })
+  })
+
+  describe('and the response is ok', () => {
+    let json: jest.Mock
+    let text: jest.Mock
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+      json = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({ jsonrpc: '2.0', id: 1, result: '0x1' })
+      text = jest.fn()
+      fetchMock = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({ ok: true, status: 200, json, text })
+      provider = new HTTPProvider('http://localhost:8545', { fetch: fetchMock })
+    })
+
+    it('should consume the body via json', async () => {
+      await sendAsync(provider, payload)
+
+      expect(json).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+    })
+
+    it('should not read the body as text', async () => {
+      await sendAsync(provider, payload)
+
+      expect(text).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    })
+
+    it('should call back with the parsed result', async () => {
+      const { result } = await sendAsync(provider, payload)
+
+      expect(result.result).toBe('0x1')
+    })
+  })
+})