diff --git a/assignment-client/src/octree/OctreeInboundPacketProcessor.cpp b/assignment-client/src/octree/OctreeInboundPacketProcessor.cpp
index b0c4d905bc..44c9576943 100644
--- a/assignment-client/src/octree/OctreeInboundPacketProcessor.cpp
+++ b/assignment-client/src/octree/OctreeInboundPacketProcessor.cpp
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ printf("\t\t tracked seq %hu\n", incomingSequence);
     const int  MAX_REASONABLE_SEQUENCE_GAP = 1000;  // this must be less than UINT16_RANGE / 2 for rollover handling to work
     const int MAX_MISSING_SEQUENCE_SIZE = 100;
 
-    unsigned short int expectedSequence = _totalPackets == 0 ? incomingSequence : _incomingLastSequence + 1;
+    unsigned short int expectedSequence = _totalPackets == 0 ? incomingSequence : _incomingLastSequence + (unsigned short int)1;
     
     if (incomingSequence == expectedSequence) {         // on time
         _incomingLastSequence = incomingSequence;
@@ -346,8 +346,8 @@ printf("\t\t tracked seq %hu\n", incomingSequence);
     // will be removed.
     if (_missingSequenceNumbers.size() > MAX_MISSING_SEQUENCE_SIZE) {
         
-        // the acceptable range of older sequence numbers may contain a rollover point; this must be handled.
-        // some sequence number in this list may be larger than _incomingLastSequence, indicating that they were received
+        // some older sequence numbers may be from before a rollover point; this must be handled.
+        // some sequence numbers in this list may be larger than _incomingLastSequence, indicating that they were received
         // before the most recent rollover.
         int cutoff = (int)_incomingLastSequence - MAX_REASONABLE_SEQUENCE_GAP;
         if (cutoff >= 0) {
diff --git a/libraries/networking/src/SentPacketHistory.cpp b/libraries/networking/src/SentPacketHistory.cpp
index a34dada397..1e1157ba71 100644
--- a/libraries/networking/src/SentPacketHistory.cpp
+++ b/libraries/networking/src/SentPacketHistory.cpp
@@ -9,22 +9,26 @@
 //
 
 #include "SentPacketHistory.h"
+#include <qdebug.h>
 
 SentPacketHistory::SentPacketHistory(int size)
     : _sentPackets(size),
     _newestPacketAt(0),
     _numExistingPackets(0),
-    _newestSequenceNumber(0)
+    _newestSequenceNumber(UINT16_MAX)
 {
 }
 
 void SentPacketHistory::packetSent(uint16_t sequenceNumber, const QByteArray& packet) {
 
-    if (sequenceNumber != 0 && sequenceNumber != _newestSequenceNumber + 1) {
-        printf("\t\tpacket history received unexpected seq number! prev: %hu  received: %hu **************** \n", _newestSequenceNumber, sequenceNumber);
+    // check if given seq number has the expected value.  if not, something's wrong with
+    // the code calling this function
+    uint16_t expectedSequenceNumber = _newestSequenceNumber + (uint16_t)1;
+    if (sequenceNumber != expectedSequenceNumber) {
+        qDebug() << "Unexpected sequence number passed to SentPacketHistory::packetSent()!"
+            << "Expected:" << expectedSequenceNumber << "Actual:" << sequenceNumber;
     }
 
-
     _newestSequenceNumber = sequenceNumber;
 
     // increment _newestPacketAt cyclically, insert new packet there.
@@ -36,7 +40,6 @@ void SentPacketHistory::packetSent(uint16_t sequenceNumber, const QByteArray& pa
     }
 }
 
-
 const QByteArray* SentPacketHistory::getPacket(uint16_t sequenceNumber) const {
 
     const int UINT16_RANGE = UINT16_MAX + 1;
diff --git a/libraries/octree/src/OctreeEditPacketSender.cpp b/libraries/octree/src/OctreeEditPacketSender.cpp
index f82e7e3101..01d2ecf464 100644
--- a/libraries/octree/src/OctreeEditPacketSender.cpp
+++ b/libraries/octree/src/OctreeEditPacketSender.cpp
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ OctreeEditPacketSender::OctreeEditPacketSender() :
     _maxPendingMessages(DEFAULT_MAX_PENDING_MESSAGES),
     _releaseQueuedMessagesPending(false),
     _serverJurisdictions(NULL),
-    _sequenceNumber(0),
+    _sequenceNumber(65500),
     _maxPacketSize(MAX_PACKET_SIZE) {
 }