diff --git a/doc/api/net.markdown b/doc/api/net.markdown
index dab1df76aa..e5056338ef 100644
--- a/doc/api/net.markdown
+++ b/doc/api/net.markdown
@@ -174,6 +174,25 @@ The `callback` paramenter will be added as an listener for the 'connect'
 event.
 
 
+#### socket.bufferSize
+
+`net.Socket` has the property that `socket.write()` always works. This is to
+help users get up an running quickly. The computer cannot necessarily keep up
+with the amount of data that is written to a socket - the network connection simply
+might be too slow. Node will internally queue up the data written to a socket and
+send it out over the wire when it is possible. (Internally it is polling on
+the socket's file descriptor for being writable).
+
+The consequence of this internal buffering is that memory may grow. This
+property shows the number of characters currently buffered to be written.
+(Number of characters is approximately equal to the number of bytes to be
+written, but the buffer may contain strings, and the strings are lazily
+encoded, so the exact number of bytes is not known.)
+
+Users who experience large or growing `bufferSize` should attempt to
+"throttle" the data flows in their program with `pause()` and resume()`.
+
+
 #### socket.setEncoding(encoding=null)
 
 Sets the encoding (either `'ascii'`, `'utf8'`, or `'base64'`) for data that is
diff --git a/lib/net.js b/lib/net.js
index abfc813c2c..38ef6d616a 100644
--- a/lib/net.js
+++ b/lib/net.js
@@ -179,6 +179,8 @@ function initSocket(self) {
   self._writeQueueEncoding = [];
   self._writeQueueFD = [];
   self._writeQueueCallbacks = [];
+  // Number of charactes (which approx. equals number of bytes)
+  self.bufferSize = 0;
 
   self._writeWatcher = ioWatchers.alloc();
   self._writeWatcher.socket = self;
@@ -192,6 +194,7 @@ function Socket(options) {
   if (!(this instanceof Socket)) return new Socket(arguments[0], arguments[1]);
   stream.Stream.call(this);
 
+  this.bufferSize = 0;
   this.fd = null;
   this.type = null;
   this.allowHalfOpen = false;
@@ -270,6 +273,8 @@ Object.defineProperty(Socket.prototype, 'readyState', {
 Socket.prototype.write = function(data /* [encoding], [fd], [cb] */) {
   var encoding, fd, cb;
 
+  assert(this.bufferSize >= 0);
+
   // parse arguments
   if (typeof arguments[1] == 'string') {
     encoding = arguments[1];
@@ -296,6 +301,7 @@ Socket.prototype.write = function(data /* [encoding], [fd], [cb] */) {
 
   if (this._connecting || (this._writeQueue && this._writeQueue.length)) {
     if (!this._writeQueue) {
+      this.bufferSize = 0;
       this._writeQueue = [];
       this._writeQueueEncoding = [];
       this._writeQueueFD = [];
@@ -309,6 +315,8 @@ Socket.prototype.write = function(data /* [encoding], [fd], [cb] */) {
 
     var last = this._writeQueue.length - 1;
 
+    this.bufferSize += data.length;
+
     if (typeof data == 'string' &&
         this._writeQueue.length &&
         typeof this._writeQueue[last] === 'string' &&
@@ -403,6 +411,8 @@ Socket.prototype._writeOut = function(data, encoding, fd, cb) {
       //      (data.length - charsWritten) +
       //      ' bytes into the pool\n');
       // Unshift whatever didn't fit onto the buffer
+      assert(data.length > charsWritten);
+      this.bufferSize += data.length - charsWritten;
       this._writeQueue.unshift(data.slice(charsWritten));
       this._writeQueueEncoding.unshift(encoding);
       this._writeQueueCallbacks.unshift(cb);
@@ -451,6 +461,7 @@ Socket.prototype._writeOut = function(data, encoding, fd, cb) {
   //if (!this._writeQueue) initWriteSocket(this);
 
   // data should be the next thing to write.
+  this.bufferSize += leftOver.length;
   this._writeQueue.unshift(leftOver);
   this._writeQueueEncoding.unshift(null);
   this._writeQueueCallbacks.unshift(cb);
@@ -478,6 +489,9 @@ Socket.prototype.flush = function() {
       return true;
     }
 
+    // Only decrement if it's not the END_OF_FILE object...
+    this.bufferSize -= data.length;
+
     var flushed = this._writeOut(data, encoding, fd, cb);
     if (!flushed) return false;
   }
@@ -731,7 +745,12 @@ Socket.prototype.destroy = function(exception) {
 
   // TODO would like to set _writeQueue to null to avoid extra object alloc,
   // but lots of code assumes this._writeQueue is always an array.
+  assert(this.bufferSize >= 0);
   this._writeQueue = [];
+  this._writeQueueEncoding = [];
+  this._writeQueueCallbacks = [];
+  this._writeQueueFD = [];
+  this.bufferSize = 0;
 
   this.readable = this.writable = false;
 
diff --git a/test/pummel/test-net-throttle.js b/test/pummel/test-net-throttle.js
index e1e0eb8a30..c53a592aee 100644
--- a/test/pummel/test-net-throttle.js
+++ b/test/pummel/test-net-throttle.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ var common = require('../common');
 var assert = require('assert');
 var net = require('net');
 
-var N = 160 * 1024; // 30kb
+var N = 160 * 1024;
 var chars_recved = 0;
 var npauses = 0;
 
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ console.log('start server on port ' + common.PORT);
 var server = net.createServer(function(connection) {
   connection.addListener('connect', function() {
     assert.equal(false, connection.write(body));
+    console.log('bufferSize: ' + connection.bufferSize);
+    assert.ok(0 <= connection.bufferSize &&
+              connection.bufferSize <= N);
     connection.end();
   });
 });
diff --git a/test/simple/test-net-pingpong.js b/test/simple/test-net-pingpong.js
index c154e6783c..da4be51c3c 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-net-pingpong.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-net-pingpong.js
@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@ function pingPongTest(port, host) {
 
     socket.setEncoding('utf8');
     socket.addListener('data', function(data) {
+      // Since we never queue data (we're always waiting for the PING
+      // before sending a pong) the writeQueueSize should always be less
+      // than one message.
+      assert.ok(0 <= socket.bufferSize && socket.bufferSize <= 4);
+
       console.log('server got: ' + data);
       assert.equal(true, socket.writable);
       assert.equal(true, socket.readable);