diff --git a/example/example.js b/example/example.js
index 66bb1cc..cb891ff 100644
--- a/example/example.js
+++ b/example/example.js
@@ -1,17 +1,19 @@
 import Client from '../src/client'
+import btc from 'better-try-catch'
 
 // let mqtt = new Client({id:'example-mqtt-client', url:'tcp://trantor:1883', topics:'test1'})
-let mqtt = new Client({id:'example-mqtt-client', connect:{host:'localhost', port:1883}, topics:'topic1'})
+let mqtt = new Client({id:'example-mqtt-client', topics:'lights'})
 
 ;
 (async () => {
 
-  await mqtt.connect()
+  console.log(await mqtt.connect())
   await mqtt.send({cmd:'test', status:'sent to topic1 implicitly'})
   await mqtt.subscribe('topic2')
   await mqtt.send('topic2', {cmd:'test', status:'sent to topic2 explicitly'})
   await mqtt.unsubscribe('topic2')
   await mqtt.send('topic2', {cmd:'test', status:'sent to topic2 with subscription'})
+  // await mqtt.subscribe('lights')
 
 
 })().catch(err => {
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index c91314b..785193c 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@uci/mqtt",
-  "version": "0.0.5",
+  "version": "0.1.0",
   "description": "mqtt client with json payloads and mqtt custom broker",
   "main": "src",
   "scripts": {
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
     "@uci/logger": "^0.0.3",
     "async-mqtt": "^1.0.1",
     "better-try-catch": "^0.6.2",
-    "lodash.isarray": "^4.0.0",
+    "is-plain-object": "^2.0.4",
     "lodash.merge": "^4.6.1",
     "lodash.union": "^4.6.0",
     "lodash.xor": "^4.5.0"
diff --git a/src/client.js b/src/client.js
index ac3b9af..adc8419 100644
--- a/src/client.js
+++ b/src/client.js
@@ -4,50 +4,53 @@ import btc from 'better-try-catch'
 import union from 'lodash.union'
 import xor from 'lodash.xor'
 import logger from '@uci/logger'
+import isPlainObject from 'is-plain-object'
 
 let log = {}
 
 export default class Client {
   constructor (opts={}) {
     this.id = opts.id || opts.name || 'mqtt:'+ new Date().getTime()
-    this.url = opts.url
+    this.url = opts.url || ''
     // subscription topics can be string of commna delimited or array of strings see object see mqtt.js docs
     this.topics = Array.isArray(opts.topics) ? opts.topics : (opts.topics ? opts.topics.split(',') : [this.id])
     this.opts = opts.connect || {}  // see options for new mqtt.Client
     // self bindings
     this.connect = this.connect.bind(this)
+    this.push = this.send
   }
 
   async connect () {
 
     return new Promise( (resolve,reject) => {
 
-      // connect returns connected mqtt client instance so merge it to class
-      // console.log(this)
       let mqtt = connect(this.url,this.opts)
-      this._extend(mqtt,'subscribe,unsubscribe')
-      this._log()
-      this._listen()
-
-      this.on('reconnect', () => {
-        log.info('mqtt client reconnected to broker' )
-        this.subscribe(this.topics)
-      })
+      this._extend(mqtt,'subscribe,unsubscribe')  // merge mqtt client into class extend with given functions
+      let timeout = this.opts.connectTimeout || 5000
+      setTimeout(()=>{
+        reject(`ending mqtt connection attempt, no broker at ${this._client.options.hostname}:${this._client.options.port}`)
+      },timeout)
 
       this.once('connect', () => {
-        this.subscribe(this.topics)
-        log.info('mqtt client connected to broker' )
-        resolve(`mqtt client connected to broker at ${this._client.options.host}`)
-      })
+        this._log()
+        this._listen()
 
-      this.on('error', err => {
-        log.fatal({err:err},'connection error to broker' )
-        console.log('connection error',err.code)
-        reject(err)
+        this.on('reconnect', () => {
+          log.info('mqtt client reconnected to broker' )
+          this.subscribe(this.topics)
+        })
+
+        this.on('error', err => {
+          log.fatal({err:err},'connection error to broker' )
+          console.log('connection error',err.code)
+        })
+
+        this.subscribe(this.topics)
+        log.info({options:this._client.options},`mqtt client connected to broker at ${this._client.options.hostname}:${this._client.options.port}`)
+        resolve(`mqtt client connected to broker at ${this._client.options.hostname}:${this._client.options.port}`)
       })
 
     }) //end promise
-
   }
 
   async subscribe(topic,options={}) {
@@ -55,6 +58,7 @@ export default class Client {
       if (typeof topic==='string') topic = topic.split(',')
       this.topics=union(this.topics,topic)
     }
+    log.info(`subscription for topic ${topic} added`)
     this._subscribe(topic,options)
   }
 
@@ -66,23 +70,24 @@ export default class Client {
     this._unsubscribe(topic)
   }
 
-
-  async send(topics,payload,options) {
+  async send(packet,topics,options) {
     if (typeof topics !=='string' && !Array.isArray(topics)) {
-      payload = topics
+      options = topics
       topics = this.topics
+    } else { if (typeof topics ==='string') topics=topics.split(',') }
+    let payload = {}
+    if (typeof packet !== 'string') {
+      payload = this._serialize(packet)
+      if (!payload) payload = this._serialize({ err: 'could not serialze packet'})
+      topics = [packet.cmd] || topics // if payload has a cmd use that as topic
     }
-    if (typeof topics ==='string') topics = topics.split(',')
-    // console.log('topics using', topics)
-    let serial = this._serialize(payload)
-    if (serial) {
-      let pubs = []
-      topics.forEach( async topic => {
-        pubs.push(this.publish(topic,serial,options))
-      })
-      return await Promise.all(pubs)
-
-    }
+    else payload = this._serialize({ data:packet })
+    let pubs = []
+    topics.forEach( async topic => {
+      log.info(`sending ${payload} to topic ${topic} with options ${options}`)
+      pubs.push(this.publish(topic,payload,options))
+    })
+    return await Promise.all(pubs)
   }
 
   registerPacketProcessor (func) {
@@ -91,34 +96,33 @@ export default class Client {
 
   _serialize(json) {
     let [err,payload] = btc(JSON.stringify)(json)
-    if (err) {  // await mqtt.unsubscribe('test2')
-      // await mqtt.send({cmd:'test', status:'I\'m good'})
-      // console.log('+++++++++++++++')
-      log.warn(`error unable to stringify json:${json} - send aborted`)
+    if (err) {
+      log.warn(`error unable to stringify json:${json}`)
       return null
     }
     return payload
   }
 
   _listen () {
-    log.info('listening for incoming packets from broker')
+    log.info(`listening for incoming packets from broker on topics ${this.topics}`)
     this.on('message',messageProcess.bind(this))
 
     async function messageProcess (topic,payload) {
-      log.info('incoming messeage on topic', topic)
+      log.info('incoming message on topic', topic)
       let packet = this._handlePayload(payload)
-      if (packet)  await this._packetProcess (packet,topic)
-
+      if(packet) packet.cmd = packet.cmd || topic  // payload had no command that use topic as cmd
+      else packet = {cmd:topic}
+      let res = await this._packetProcess(packet,topic) || {}
+      this.send(res)
     }
   }
 
   _handlePayload (payload) {
     let [err,packet] = btc(JSON.parse)(payload.toString())
     if (err) {
-      log.fatal({payload:payload},'Could not parse JSON of payload')
-      // console.log('Could not parse JSON of payload', payload.toString())
-      return null
+      log.info('payload not json returning as prop data:<payload>')
     }
+    if (!isPlainObject(packet))  packet = { data:payload.toString() }
     return packet
   }
 
@@ -129,8 +133,6 @@ export default class Client {
     console.dir(packet)
     console.log(packet.status)
     console.log('========================')
-  // await mqtt.send({cmd:'test', status:'I\'m good'})
-  // console.log('+++++++++++++++')=')
   }
 
   async _log() {