diff --git a/rpc/wrtc_client_channel.go b/rpc/wrtc_client_channel.go
index bed463e9..b4fe9964 100644
--- a/rpc/wrtc_client_channel.go
+++ b/rpc/wrtc_client_channel.go
@@ -265,23 +265,25 @@ func (ch *webrtcClientChannel) newStream(
 ) (*webrtcClientStream, error) {
 	id := stream.GetId()
 	ch.mu.Lock()
+	defer ch.mu.Unlock()
 	activeStream, ok := ch.streams[id]
 	if !ok {
 		if len(ch.streams) == WebRTCMaxStreamCount {
-			ch.mu.Unlock()
 			return nil, errWebRTCMaxStreams
 		}
-		clientStream := newWebRTCClientStream(
+		clientStream, err := newWebRTCClientStream(
 			ctx,
 			ch,
 			stream,
 			ch.removeStreamByID,
 			utils.AddFieldsToLogger(ch.webrtcBaseChannel.logger, "id", id),
 		)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
 		activeStream = activeWebRTCClientStream{clientStream}
 		ch.streams[id] = activeStream
 	}
-	ch.mu.Unlock()
 	return activeStream.cs, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/rpc/wrtc_client_stream.go b/rpc/wrtc_client_stream.go
index 11838b83..97f7ea54 100644
--- a/rpc/wrtc_client_stream.go
+++ b/rpc/wrtc_client_stream.go
@@ -16,7 +16,12 @@ import (
 	webrtcpb "go.viam.com/utils/proto/rpc/webrtc/v1"
 )
 
-var _ = grpc.ClientStream(&webrtcClientStream{})
+var (
+	_ = grpc.ClientStream(&webrtcClientStream{})
+	// ErrDisconnected indicates that the channel underlying the client stream
+	// has been closed, and the client is therefore disconnected.
+	ErrDisconnected = errors.New("client disconnected; underlying channel closed")
+)
 
 // A webrtcClientStream is the high level gRPC streaming interface used for both
 // unary and streaming call requests.
@@ -45,7 +50,21 @@ func newWebRTCClientStream(
 	stream *webrtcpb.Stream,
 	onDone func(id uint64),
 	logger utils.ZapCompatibleLogger,
-) *webrtcClientStream {
+) (*webrtcClientStream, error) {
+	// Assume that cancelation of the client channel's context means the peer
+	// connection and base channel have both closed, and the client is
+	// disconnected.
+	//
+	// We could rely on eventual reads/writes from/to the stream failing with a
+	// `io.ErrClosedPipe`, but not checking the channel's context here will mean
+	// we can create a stream _while_ the channel is closing/closed, which can
+	// result in data races and undefined behavior. The caller to this function
+	// is holding the channel mutex that's also acquired in the "close" path that
+	// will cancel `channel.ctx`.
+	if channel.ctx.Err() != nil {
+		return nil, ErrDisconnected
+	}
+
 	ctx, cancel := utils.MergeContext(channel.ctx, ctx)
 	bs := newWebRTCBaseStream(ctx, cancel, stream, onDone, logger)
 	s := &webrtcClientStream{
@@ -65,7 +84,7 @@ func newWebRTCClientStream(
 			}
 		}
 	})
-	return s
+	return s, nil
 }
 
 // SendMsg is generally called by generated code. On error, SendMsg aborts
diff --git a/rpc/wrtc_client_test.go b/rpc/wrtc_client_test.go
index 4325adce..e83772f0 100644
--- a/rpc/wrtc_client_test.go
+++ b/rpc/wrtc_client_test.go
@@ -618,3 +618,66 @@ func TestWebRTCClientSubsequentStreams(t *testing.T) {
 	err = <-errChan
 	test.That(t, err, test.ShouldBeNil)
 }
+
+func TestErrDisconnected(t *testing.T) {
+	logger := golog.NewTestLogger(t)
+	serverOpts := []ServerOption{
+		WithWebRTCServerOptions(WebRTCServerOptions{
+			Enable: true,
+		}),
+		WithUnauthenticated(),
+	}
+	rpcServer, err := NewServer(
+		logger,
+		serverOpts...,
+	)
+	test.That(t, err, test.ShouldBeNil)
+
+	es := echoserver.Server{}
+	err = rpcServer.RegisterServiceServer(
+		context.Background(),
+		&echopb.EchoService_ServiceDesc,
+		&es,
+		echopb.RegisterEchoServiceHandlerFromEndpoint,
+	)
+	test.That(t, err, test.ShouldBeNil)
+
+	listener, err := net.Listen("tcp", "localhost:0")
+	test.That(t, err, test.ShouldBeNil)
+
+	errChan := make(chan error)
+	go func() {
+		errChan <- rpcServer.Serve(listener)
+	}()
+
+	rtcConn, err := DialWebRTC(
+		context.Background(),
+		listener.Addr().String(),
+		rpcServer.InstanceNames()[0],
+		logger,
+		WithDialDebug(),
+		WithInsecure(),
+	)
+	test.That(t, err, test.ShouldBeNil)
+
+	client := echopb.NewEchoServiceClient(rtcConn)
+
+	msg := "these-are-not-the-droids-you're-looking-for"
+	echoResp, err := client.Echo(context.Background(), &echopb.EchoRequest{Message: msg})
+	test.That(t, err, test.ShouldBeNil)
+	test.That(t, echoResp.GetMessage(), test.ShouldEqual, msg)
+
+	// Close underlying ClientConn and expect that further usages of the gRPC
+	// client will result in `ErrDisconnected`.
+	test.That(t, rtcConn.Close(), test.ShouldBeNil)
+	for i := 0; i < 2; i++ {
+		echoResp, err = client.Echo(context.Background(), &echopb.EchoRequest{Message: msg})
+		test.That(t, echoResp, test.ShouldBeNil)
+		test.That(t, err, test.ShouldNotBeNil)
+		test.That(t, err, test.ShouldBeError, ErrDisconnected)
+	}
+
+	test.That(t, rpcServer.Stop(), test.ShouldBeNil)
+	err = <-errChan
+	test.That(t, err, test.ShouldBeNil)
+}