diff --git a/basis/concurrency/distributed/distributed-docs.factor b/basis/concurrency/distributed/distributed-docs.factor
index 0769be6386..efb52cbbb8 100644
--- a/basis/concurrency/distributed/distributed-docs.factor
+++ b/basis/concurrency/distributed/distributed-docs.factor
@@ -1,22 +1,9 @@
 USING: help.markup help.syntax concurrency.messaging threads ;
 IN: concurrency.distributed
 
-HELP: local-node
-{ $var-description "A variable containing the node the current thread is running on." } ;
-
-HELP: start-node
-{ $values { "port" "a port number between 0 and 65535" } { "threaded-server" "a threaded-server tuple" } }
-{ $description "Starts a node server for receiving messages from remote Factor instances." } ;
-
 ARTICLE: "concurrency.distributed.example" "Distributed Concurrency Example"
-"For a Factor instance to be able to send and receive distributed "
-"concurrency messages it must first have " { $link start-node } " called."
-$nl
-"In one factor instance call " { $link start-node } " with the port 9000, "
-"and in another with the port 9001."
-$nl
 "In this example the Factor instance associated with port 9000 will run "
-"a thread that sits receiving messages and printing the received message "
+"a thread that receives and prints messages "
 "in the listener. The code to start the thread is: "
 { $examples
     { $unchecked-example
@@ -51,11 +38,9 @@ $nl
 
 ARTICLE: "concurrency.distributed" "Distributed message passing"
 "The " { $vocab-link "concurrency.distributed" } " implements transparent distributed message passing, inspired by Erlang and Termite."
-{ $subsections start-node }
 "Instances of " { $link thread } " can be sent to remote threads, at which point they are converted to objects holding the thread ID and the current node's host name:"
 { $subsections remote-thread }
 "The " { $vocab-link "serialize" } " vocabulary is used to convert Factor objects to byte arrays for transfer over a socket." 
 { $subsections "concurrency.distributed.example" } ;
 
-
 ABOUT: "concurrency.distributed"
diff --git a/basis/concurrency/distributed/distributed-tests.factor b/basis/concurrency/distributed/distributed-tests.factor
index 0f06442c26..3a6693c440 100644
--- a/basis/concurrency/distributed/distributed-tests.factor
+++ b/basis/concurrency/distributed/distributed-tests.factor
@@ -1,33 +1,39 @@
 USING: tools.test concurrency.distributed kernel io.files
-io.files.temp io.directories arrays io.sockets system
+io.files.temp io.directories arrays io.sockets system calendar
 combinators threads math sequences concurrency.messaging
-continuations accessors prettyprint ;
+continuations accessors prettyprint io.servers.connection ;
 FROM: concurrency.messaging => receive send ;
 IN: concurrency.distributed.tests
 
-: test-node ( -- addrspec )
+CONSTANT: test-ip "127.0.0.1"
+
+: test-node-server ( -- threaded-server )
     {
         { [ os unix? ] [ "distributed-concurrency-test" temp-file <local> ] }
-        { [ os windows? ] [ "127.0.0.1" 1238 <inet4> ] }
+        { [ os windows? ] [ test-ip 0 <inet4> ] }
+    } cond <node-server> ;
+
+: test-node-client ( -- addrspec )
+    {
+        { [ os unix? ] [ "distributed-concurrency-test" temp-file <local> ] }
+        { [ os windows? ] [ test-ip insecure-port <inet4> ] }
     } cond ;
 
+    
 [ ] [ [ "distributed-concurrency-test" temp-file delete-file ] ignore-errors ] unit-test
 
-[ ] [ test-node dup (start-node) drop ] unit-test
+test-node-server [
+    [ ] [
+        [
+            receive first2 [ 3 + ] dip send
+            "thread-a" unregister-remote-thread
+        ] "Thread A" spawn
+        "thread-a" register-remote-thread
+    ] unit-test
 
-[ ] [
-    [
-        receive first2 [ 3 + ] dip send
-        "thread-a" unregister-remote-thread
-    ] "Thread A" spawn
-    "thread-a" register-remote-thread
-] unit-test
-
-[ 8 ] [
-    5 self 2array
-    test-node "thread-a" <remote-thread> send
-
-    receive
-] unit-test
-
-[ ] [ test-node stop-node ] unit-test
+    [ 8 ] [
+        5 self 2array
+        test-node-client "thread-a" <remote-thread> send
+        100 seconds receive-timeout
+    ] unit-test
+] with-threaded-server
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/basis/concurrency/distributed/distributed.factor b/basis/concurrency/distributed/distributed.factor
index ef69728db0..f18f5279ea 100644
--- a/basis/concurrency/distributed/distributed.factor
+++ b/basis/concurrency/distributed/distributed.factor
@@ -22,8 +22,6 @@ PRIVATE>
 : get-remote-thread ( name -- thread )
     dup registered-remote-threads at [ ] [ threads at ] ?if ;
 
-SYMBOL: local-node
-
 : handle-node-client ( -- )
     deserialize
     [ first2 get-remote-thread send ] [ stop-this-server ] if* ;
@@ -34,12 +32,6 @@ SYMBOL: local-node
         "concurrency.distributed" >>name
         [ handle-node-client ] >>handler ;
 
-: (start-node) ( addrspec addrspec -- threaded-server )
-    local-node set-global <node-server> start-server ;
-
-: start-node ( port -- threaded-server )
-    host-name over <inet> (start-node) ;
-
 TUPLE: remote-thread node id ;
 
 C: <remote-thread> remote-thread
@@ -52,8 +44,7 @@ M: remote-thread send ( message thread -- )
     send-remote-message ;
 
 M: thread (serialize) ( obj -- )
-    id>> [ local-node get-global ] dip <remote-thread>
-    (serialize) ;
+    id>> [ insecure-addr ] dip <remote-thread> (serialize) ;
 
 : stop-node ( node -- )
     f swap send-remote-message ;