diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index af3fa53..d837b4f 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -288,6 +288,13 @@ exactly 140.
   and fail on every developer machine, and a committed key leaks in a public repository. Valid while
   the dev image has no openssl.
 
+- **`close` means the session is over, and a drop the loop will retry is `disconnected`.** Maintainer's
+  call, 2026-08-31: with reconnect on by default a `close` on every transient drop left an application
+  unable to tell a retry from the end, and no second one follows because `teardown()` is a no-op once
+  `closed`. `teardown()` picks the event by whether the reconnect loop is still live, and `end()` stops
+  that loop before tearing down, so every deliberate shutdown emits `close`. Without the split an
+  application that opens a replacement client on `close` ends up holding two binds on one account.
+
 - **A client re-binds after a drop unless it is told not to.** Maintainer's call, 2026-08-31:
   surviving a dropped link is most of what the session layer is for, and behind an opt-in an
   application that never read the options table got none of it. `reconnect` takes
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 49a3d15..52e2148 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -316,8 +316,9 @@ TypeScript users can import `SmppLog` to have the compiler check one.
 | `sms` | An SMS arrives, reassembled if it was multipart. Carries `sendResp()`, `sendDlr()` and the `smsId` it was answered with. |
 | `dlr` | A delivery report arrives, one per segment. `smsId` is undefined when the peer marked a receipt whose body carries no readable id. `statusMsg` names `statusId` unless the peer sent a `message_state` this library cannot name — then `statusId` is that raw value and `statusMsg` is whatever the body said, or `UNKNOWN`. |
 | `messageDlr` | Every segment of a multipart message sent with `dlr: true` has been reported on, carrying the worst status of the segments. Merging needs the SMSC to number its segment ids `<base>-<n>`, which is this library's own server's convention — an SMSC that hands out unrelated ids per segment never fires it. A base is merged once: a later message the SMSC gives the same ids is reported on through `dlr` alone, and an earlier one still collecting loses its merged report as well. |
-| `close` | The connection closed. |
-| `reconnected` | The client re-bound after a drop. Never fires with `reconnect: false`. |
+| `close` | The session is over: you closed it, or the link dropped with `reconnect: false`. Nothing brings it back. |
+| `disconnected` | The link dropped and the reconnect loop will retry it. Do not open a replacement client here — the session you hold comes back on its own, and `reconnected` says when. |
+| `reconnected` | The client re-bound after a drop. |
 | `sessionError` | Something failed on a live session, including a hook or listener that threw or, if it was `async`, rejected. |
 | `data` | Raw bytes arrived on the socket. |
 | `incomingPdu` | A complete PDU arrived, as a buffer. |
diff --git a/src/session-options.ts b/src/session-options.ts
index 9905f14..9c47b9b 100644
--- a/src/session-options.ts
+++ b/src/session-options.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import { isSmsIdNotation, smsIdNotations, smsIdPlaces } from './sms-id.ts';
 export type SessionEvents = {
 	close: [];
 	data: [Buffer];
+	disconnected: [];
 	dlr: [Dlr, PduObject];
 	incomingPdu: [Buffer];
 	incomingPduObj: [PduObject];
@@ -116,28 +117,57 @@ export const defaults = {
  * queued behind a slot that is never freed, so the call never settles at all.
  */
 export function checkSessionOptions(options: CheckableOptions): VoidResult {
-	const limits: [string, number, number][] = [
+	const checked = checkLimits([
 		['idleTimeout', options.idleTimeout ?? 0, 0],
 		['maxOutstanding', options.maxOutstanding ?? defaults.maxOutstanding, 1],
 		['maxReassembly', options.maxReassembly ?? defaults.maxReassembly, 1],
 		['reassemblyTimeout', options.reassemblyTimeout ?? defaults.reassemblyTimeout, 0],
 		['responseTimeout', options.responseTimeout ?? defaults.responseTimeout, 0],
 		['shutdownTimeout', options.shutdownTimeout ?? defaults.shutdownTimeout, 0],
-	];
+	]);
 
+	if (checked.err) return checked;
+
+	const backoff = checkReconnect(options.reconnect);
+
+	return backoff.err ? backoff : checkSmsIdFormat(options.smsIdFormat);
+}
+
+function checkLimits(limits: [string, number, number][]): VoidResult {
 	for (const [name, value, min] of limits) {
 		if (!Number.isInteger(value) || value < min) {
 			return { err: new Error(`${name} must be ${String(min)} or more, got ${String(value)}`) };
 		}
 	}
 
-	return checkSmsIdFormat(options.smsIdFormat);
+	return {};
+}
+
+function checkReconnect(reconnect: unknown): VoidResult {
+	if (reconnect === undefined || reconnect === false) return {};
+
+	if (!isRecord(reconnect)) {
+		return { err: new Error('reconnect takes { maxDelay, minDelay }, or false to turn it off') };
+	}
+
+	// A minDelay of 0 never doubles, so the backoff never starts and every retry lands at once.
+	return checkLimits([
+		['maxDelay', delayOr(reconnect.maxDelay, defaults.maxDelay), 1],
+		['minDelay', delayOr(reconnect.minDelay, defaults.minDelay), 1],
+	]);
 }
 
 function isRecord(value: unknown): value is Record<string, unknown> {
 	return typeof value === 'object' && value !== null && !Array.isArray(value);
 }
 
+/** A tuning value that is not a number lands on NaN, which the range check refuses by name. */
+function delayOr(value: unknown, fallback: number): number {
+	if (value === undefined) return fallback;
+
+	return typeof value === 'number' ? value : NaN;
+}
+
 function checkSmsIdFormat(smsIdFormat: unknown): VoidResult {
 	if (smsIdFormat === undefined) return {};
 
@@ -167,6 +197,7 @@ export type CheckableOptions = {
 	maxOutstanding?: number | undefined;
 	maxReassembly?: number | undefined;
 	reassemblyTimeout?: number | undefined;
+	reconnect?: unknown;
 	responseTimeout?: number | undefined;
 	shutdownTimeout?: number | undefined;
 	smsIdFormat?: unknown;
diff --git a/src/session.ts b/src/session.ts
index e18fd53..1dbb84a 100644
--- a/src/session.ts
+++ b/src/session.ts
@@ -376,7 +376,12 @@ export class Session extends EventEmitter<SessionEvents> {
 		this.pending.settleAll(new Error('Session closed before a response arrived'));
 		this.incoming.clear();
 		this.sock.destroy();
-		this.emit('close');
+		this.emit(this.retrying() ? 'disconnected' : 'close');
+	}
+
+	/** A drop the loop will bring the session back from is a disconnect, not the end of it. */
+	private retrying(): boolean {
+		return this.reconnectLoop !== undefined && !this.reconnectLoop.isStopped();
 	}
 
 	private nextConcatReference(): number {
diff --git a/test/session-extras.test.ts b/test/session-extras.test.ts
index 0aa1f9f..611024e 100644
--- a/test/session-extras.test.ts
+++ b/test/session-extras.test.ts
@@ -334,10 +334,65 @@ describe('reconnect', () => {
 
 		const reconnected = once<true>(resolve => { session.on('reconnected', () => { resolve(true); }); });
 
+		const dropped = session.sock;
+
 		await peerOf(smpp).close();
 		await reconnected;
 
-		assert.ok(session.loggedIn);
+		assert.notEqual(session.sock, dropped, 'the session should be live on a fresh socket');
+	});
+
+	test('reports a drop it will retry as disconnected, keeping close for the end', async t => {
+		const smpp = await startServer(t);
+		const { session } = await connect(t, smpp);
+
+		assert.ok(session);
+
+		const events: string[] = [];
+
+		session.on('close', () => { events.push('close'); });
+		session.on('disconnected', () => { events.push('disconnected'); });
+
+		const reconnected = once<true>(resolve => { session.on('reconnected', () => { resolve(true); }); });
+
+		await peerOf(smpp).close();
+		await reconnected;
+
+		assert.deepEqual(events, ['disconnected'], 'a link the loop brings back is not the end');
+
+		await session.close();
+
+		assert.deepEqual(events, ['disconnected', 'close']);
+	});
+
+	test('reports a drop as close when nothing will retry it', async t => {
+		const smpp = await startServer(t);
+		const { session } = await connect(t, smpp, { reconnect: false });
+
+		assert.ok(session);
+
+		const events: string[] = [];
+
+		session.on('disconnected', () => { events.push('disconnected'); });
+
+		const closed = once<true>(resolve => { session.on('close', () => { resolve(true); }); });
+
+		await peerOf(smpp).close();
+		await closed;
+
+		assert.deepEqual(events, []);
+	});
+
+	test('refuses a backoff that would retry without pausing', () => {
+		assert.match(checkSessionOptions({ reconnect: { minDelay: 0 } }).err?.message ?? '', /minDelay/);
+		assert.match(checkSessionOptions({ reconnect: { maxDelay: -1 } }).err?.message ?? '', /maxDelay/);
+		assert.match(
+			checkSessionOptions({ reconnect: null }).err?.message ?? '',
+			/false/,
+			'off is spelled false, so nothing else may stand in for it',
+		);
+		assert.equal(checkSessionOptions({ reconnect: false }).err, undefined);
+		assert.equal(checkSessionOptions({ reconnect: { maxDelay: 60_000, minDelay: 500 } }).err, undefined);
 	});
 
 	test('schedules nothing after a drop when reconnect is false', async t => {
diff --git a/test/session.test.ts b/test/session.test.ts
index 5565ef5..5165d1e 100644
--- a/test/session.test.ts
+++ b/test/session.test.ts
@@ -1408,7 +1408,11 @@ describe('application hooks that throw or reject', () => {
 describe('link timers', () => {
 	test('closes a client link the peer has stopped answering', async t => {
 		const peer = await bindOnlyPeer(t);
-		const { err, session } = await client({ enquireLinkInterval: 50, port: peer.port });
+		const { err, session } = await client({
+			enquireLinkInterval: 50,
+			port: peer.port,
+			reconnect: false,
+		});
 
 		assert.equal(err, undefined);
 		assert.ok(session);