diff --git a/tests/test_websocket.py b/tests/test_websocket.py
index 29cb0d2..856a9cc 100644
--- a/tests/test_websocket.py
+++ b/tests/test_websocket.py
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ class HeaderSockMock(SockMock):
     def __init__(self, fname):
         SockMock.__init__(self)
         path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), fname)
-        self.add_packet(open(path).read())
+        self.add_packet(open(path).read().encode('utf-8'))
 
 
 class WebSocketTest(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ class WebSocketTest(unittest.TestCase):
     def testWSKey(self):
         key = ws._create_sec_websocket_key()
         self.assert_(key != 24)
-        self.assert_("¥n" not in key)
+        self.assert_(six.u("¥n") not in key)
 
     def testWsUtils(self):
         sock = ws.WebSocket()
@@ -227,7 +227,8 @@ class WebSocketTest(unittest.TestCase):
         something = "\x81\x8fabcd\x82\xe3\xf0\x87\xe3\xf1\x80\xe5\xca\x81\xe2\xc5\x82\xe3\xcc"
         s.add_packet(something)
         data = sock.recv()
-        self.assertEquals(data.decode('utf-8'), "こんにちは")
+        data = data.decode('utf-8')
+        self.assertEquals(data, u"こんにちは")
 
         s.add_packet("\x81\x85abcd)\x07\x0f\x08\x0e")
         data = sock.recv()
diff --git a/websocket/__init__.py b/websocket/__init__.py
index da4e87b..2e5e573 100644
--- a/websocket/__init__.py
+++ b/websocket/__init__.py
@@ -347,7 +347,11 @@ class ABNF(object):
 
     def _get_masked(self, mask_key):
         s = ABNF.mask(mask_key, self.data)
-        return six.b(mask_key) + s
+
+        if isinstance(mask_key, six.text_type):
+            mask_key = mask_key.encode('utf-8')
+
+        return mask_key + s
 
     @staticmethod
     def mask(mask_key, data):
@@ -564,6 +568,7 @@ class WebSocket(object):
 
         while True:
             line = self._recv_line()
+            line = line.decode('utf-8')
             if line == "\r\n" or line == "\n":
                 break
             line = line.strip()
@@ -595,6 +600,7 @@ class WebSocket(object):
 
         opcode: operation code to send. Please see OPCODE_XXX.
         """
+
         frame = ABNF.create_frame(payload, opcode)
         return self.send_frame(frame)
 
@@ -870,9 +876,9 @@ class WebSocket(object):
         while True:
             c = self._recv(1)
             line.append(c)
-            if c == "\n":
+            if c == six.b("\n"):
                 break
-        return "".join(line)
+        return six.b("").join(line)
 
 
 class WebSocketApp(object):
@@ -930,6 +936,7 @@ class WebSocketApp(object):
         data: message to send. If you set opcode to OPCODE_TEXT, data must be utf-8 string or unicode.
         opcode: operation code of data. default is OPCODE_TEXT.
         """
+
         if self.sock.send(data, opcode) == 0:
             raise WebSocketConnectionClosedException()