diff --git a/src/address/address.go b/src/address/address.go
index 3960b78..eba6170 100644
--- a/src/address/address.go
+++ b/src/address/address.go
@@ -2,7 +2,11 @@
 // Of particular importance are the functions used to derive addresses or subnets from a NodeID, or to get the NodeID and bitmask of the bits visible from an address, which is needed for DHT searches.
 package address
 
-import "github.com/yggdrasil-network/yggdrasil-go/src/crypto"
+import (
+	"fmt"
+
+	"github.com/yggdrasil-network/yggdrasil-go/src/crypto"
+)
 
 // Address represents an IPv6 address in the yggdrasil address range.
 type Address [16]byte
@@ -128,6 +132,13 @@ func (a *Address) GetNodeIDandMask() (*crypto.NodeID, *crypto.NodeID) {
 	return &nid, &mask
 }
 
+// GetNodeIDLengthString returns a string representation of the known bits of the NodeID, along with the number of known bits, for use with yggdrasil.Dialer's Dial and DialContext functions.
+func (a *Address) GetNodeIDLengthString() string {
+	nid, mask := a.GetNodeIDandMask()
+	l := mask.PrefixLength()
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s/%d", nid.String(), l)
+}
+
 // GetNodeIDandMask returns two *NodeID.
 // The first is a NodeID with all the bits known from the Subnet set to their correct values.
 // The second is a bitmask with 1 bit set for each bit that was known from the Subnet.
@@ -156,3 +167,10 @@ func (s *Subnet) GetNodeIDandMask() (*crypto.NodeID, *crypto.NodeID) {
 	}
 	return &nid, &mask
 }
+
+// GetNodeIDLengthString returns a string representation of the known bits of the NodeID, along with the number of known bits, for use with yggdrasil.Dialer's Dial and DialContext functions.
+func (s *Subnet) GetNodeIDLengthString() string {
+	nid, mask := s.GetNodeIDandMask()
+	l := mask.PrefixLength()
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s/%d", nid.String(), l)
+}
diff --git a/src/tuntap/iface.go b/src/tuntap/iface.go
index 0da9963..3d788b1 100644
--- a/src/tuntap/iface.go
+++ b/src/tuntap/iface.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/yggdrasil-network/yggdrasil-go/src/address"
 	"github.com/yggdrasil-network/yggdrasil-go/src/crypto"
 	"github.com/yggdrasil-network/yggdrasil-go/src/util"
+	"github.com/yggdrasil-network/yggdrasil-go/src/yggdrasil"
 
 	"github.com/Arceliar/phony"
 )
@@ -225,7 +226,7 @@ func (tun *TunAdapter) _handlePacket(recvd []byte, err error) {
 		return
 	}
 	// Do we have an active connection for this node address?
-	var dstNodeID, dstNodeIDMask *crypto.NodeID
+	var dstString string
 	session, isIn := tun.addrToConn[dstAddr]
 	if !isIn || session == nil {
 		session, isIn = tun.subnetToConn[dstSnet]
@@ -233,9 +234,9 @@ func (tun *TunAdapter) _handlePacket(recvd []byte, err error) {
 			// Neither an address nor a subnet mapping matched, therefore populate
 			// the node ID and mask to commence a search
 			if dstAddr.IsValid() {
-				dstNodeID, dstNodeIDMask = dstAddr.GetNodeIDandMask()
+				dstString = dstAddr.GetNodeIDLengthString()
 			} else {
-				dstNodeID, dstNodeIDMask = dstSnet.GetNodeIDandMask()
+				dstString = dstSnet.GetNodeIDLengthString()
 			}
 		}
 	}
@@ -243,27 +244,27 @@ func (tun *TunAdapter) _handlePacket(recvd []byte, err error) {
 	if !isIn || session == nil {
 		// Check we haven't been given empty node ID, really this shouldn't ever
 		// happen but just to be sure...
-		if dstNodeID == nil || dstNodeIDMask == nil {
-			panic("Given empty dstNodeID and dstNodeIDMask - this shouldn't happen")
+		if dstString == "" {
+			panic("Given empty dstString - this shouldn't happen")
 		}
-		_, known := tun.dials[*dstNodeID]
-		tun.dials[*dstNodeID] = append(tun.dials[*dstNodeID], bs)
-		for len(tun.dials[*dstNodeID]) > 32 {
-			util.PutBytes(tun.dials[*dstNodeID][0])
-			tun.dials[*dstNodeID] = tun.dials[*dstNodeID][1:]
+		_, known := tun.dials[dstString]
+		tun.dials[dstString] = append(tun.dials[dstString], bs)
+		for len(tun.dials[dstString]) > 32 {
+			util.PutBytes(tun.dials[dstString][0])
+			tun.dials[dstString] = tun.dials[dstString][1:]
 		}
 		if !known {
 			go func() {
-				conn, err := tun.dialer.DialByNodeIDandMask(dstNodeID, dstNodeIDMask)
+				conn, err := tun.dialer.Dial("nodeid", dstString)
 				tun.Act(nil, func() {
-					packets := tun.dials[*dstNodeID]
-					delete(tun.dials, *dstNodeID)
+					packets := tun.dials[dstString]
+					delete(tun.dials, dstString)
 					if err != nil {
 						return
 					}
 					// We've been given a connection so prepare the session wrapper
 					var tc *tunConn
-					if tc, err = tun._wrap(conn); err != nil {
+					if tc, err = tun._wrap(conn.(*yggdrasil.Conn)); err != nil {
 						// Something went wrong when storing the connection, typically that
 						// something already exists for this address or subnet
 						tun.log.Debugln("TUN/TAP iface wrap:", err)
diff --git a/src/tuntap/tun.go b/src/tuntap/tun.go
index 0bef909..5d77eca 100644
--- a/src/tuntap/tun.go
+++ b/src/tuntap/tun.go
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ type TunAdapter struct {
 	//mutex        sync.RWMutex // Protects the below
 	addrToConn   map[address.Address]*tunConn
 	subnetToConn map[address.Subnet]*tunConn
-	dials        map[crypto.NodeID][][]byte // Buffer of packets to send after dialing finishes
+	dials        map[string][][]byte // Buffer of packets to send after dialing finishes
 	isOpen       bool
 }
 
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ func (tun *TunAdapter) Init(config *config.NodeState, log *log.Logger, listener
 	tun.dialer = dialer
 	tun.addrToConn = make(map[address.Address]*tunConn)
 	tun.subnetToConn = make(map[address.Subnet]*tunConn)
-	tun.dials = make(map[crypto.NodeID][][]byte)
+	tun.dials = make(map[string][][]byte)
 	tun.writer.tun = tun
 	tun.reader.tun = tun
 }
diff --git a/src/yggdrasil/dialer.go b/src/yggdrasil/dialer.go
index 0441085..e3f24e9 100644
--- a/src/yggdrasil/dialer.go
+++ b/src/yggdrasil/dialer.go
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 package yggdrasil
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"errors"
+	"net"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
@@ -15,12 +17,18 @@ type Dialer struct {
 	core *Core
 }
 
-// TODO DialContext that allows timeouts/cancellation, Dial should just call this with no timeout set in the context
-
 // Dial opens a session to the given node. The first paramter should be "nodeid"
 // and the second parameter should contain a hexadecimal representation of the
-// target node ID.
-func (d *Dialer) Dial(network, address string) (*Conn, error) {
+// target node ID. Internally, it uses DialContext with a 6-second timeout.
+func (d *Dialer) Dial(network, address string) (net.Conn, error) {
+	const timeout = 6 * time.Second
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), timeout)
+	defer cancel()
+	return d.DialContext(ctx, network, address)
+}
+
+// DialContext is used internally by Dial, and should only be used with a context that includes a timeout.
+func (d *Dialer) DialContext(ctx context.Context, network, address string) (net.Conn, error) {
 	var nodeID crypto.NodeID
 	var nodeMask crypto.NodeID
 	// Process
@@ -28,7 +36,7 @@ func (d *Dialer) Dial(network, address string) (*Conn, error) {
 	case "nodeid":
 		// A node ID was provided - we don't need to do anything special with it
 		if tokens := strings.Split(address, "/"); len(tokens) == 2 {
-			len, err := strconv.Atoi(tokens[1])
+			l, err := strconv.Atoi(tokens[1])
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
@@ -37,7 +45,7 @@ func (d *Dialer) Dial(network, address string) (*Conn, error) {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 			copy(nodeID[:], dest)
-			for idx := 0; idx < len; idx++ {
+			for idx := 0; idx < l; idx++ {
 				nodeMask[idx/8] |= 0x80 >> byte(idx%8)
 			}
 		} else {
@@ -50,7 +58,7 @@ func (d *Dialer) Dial(network, address string) (*Conn, error) {
 				nodeMask[i] = 0xFF
 			}
 		}
-		return d.DialByNodeIDandMask(&nodeID, &nodeMask)
+		return d.DialByNodeIDandMask(ctx, &nodeID, &nodeMask)
 	default:
 		// An unexpected address type was given, so give up
 		return nil, errors.New("unexpected address type")
@@ -59,19 +67,18 @@ func (d *Dialer) Dial(network, address string) (*Conn, error) {
 
 // DialByNodeIDandMask opens a session to the given node based on raw
 // NodeID parameters.
-func (d *Dialer) DialByNodeIDandMask(nodeID, nodeMask *crypto.NodeID) (*Conn, error) {
+func (d *Dialer) DialByNodeIDandMask(ctx context.Context, nodeID, nodeMask *crypto.NodeID) (net.Conn, error) {
 	conn := newConn(d.core, nodeID, nodeMask, nil)
 	if err := conn.search(); err != nil {
+		// TODO: make searches take a context, so they can be cancelled early
 		conn.Close()
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	conn.session.setConn(nil, conn)
-	t := time.NewTimer(6 * time.Second) // TODO use a context instead
-	defer t.Stop()
 	select {
 	case <-conn.session.init:
 		return conn, nil
-	case <-t.C:
+	case <-ctx.Done():
 		conn.Close()
 		return nil, errors.New("session handshake timeout")
 	}