diff --git a/internal/protocol/packet_test.go b/internal/protocol/packet_test.go
index dc690eb..5a1ee41 100644
--- a/internal/protocol/packet_test.go
+++ b/internal/protocol/packet_test.go
@@ -13,7 +13,17 @@ type TestPacketData struct {
 	C        int32
 }
 
-func TestPacket(t *testing.T) {
+// this is the data we expect to get from encoding the above struct with:
+//
+//	Encode(TestPacketData{
+//		A:        1,
+//		B:        2,
+//		UTF16Str: "hello world",
+//		C:        3,
+//	})
+var testData = [...]byte{0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x02, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x68, 0x00, 0x65, 0x00, 0x6c, 0x00, 0x6c, 0x00, 0x6f, 0x00, 0x20, 0x00, 0x77, 0x00, 0x6f, 0x00, 0x72, 0x00, 0x6c, 0x00, 0x64, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x03, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00}
+
+func TestPacketEncodeDecode(t *testing.T) {
 	pkt := NewPacket(&bytes.Buffer{})
 	if err := pkt.Encode(TestPacketData{
 		A:        1,
@@ -24,12 +34,16 @@ func TestPacket(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
 
+	if !bytes.Equal(pkt.readWriter.(*bytes.Buffer).Bytes(), testData[:]) {
+		t.Error("packet data does not match!")
+	}
+
 	var test TestPacketData
 	if err := pkt.Decode(&test); err != nil {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
 
 	if test.A != 1 || test.B != 2 || test.C != 3 || test.UTF16Str != "hello world" {
-		t.Error("packet data does not match!")
+		t.Error("decoded packet data does not match!")
 	}
 }