protected function send($data)
    {
        $this->debug("Send: $data");

        $result = $this->socket->write($data);
        if (!$result || PEAR::isError($result)) {
            $msg = $result ? $result->getMessage() : "unknown error";
            return PEAR::raiseError("Failed to write to socket: $msg");
        }

        return $result;
    }