diff --git a/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/http/websocketx/benchmarkserver/WebSocketServerHandler.java b/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/http/websocketx/benchmarkserver/WebSocketServerHandler.java
index 7a8458f915..4d6c8f3008 100644
--- a/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/http/websocketx/benchmarkserver/WebSocketServerHandler.java
+++ b/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/http/websocketx/benchmarkserver/WebSocketServerHandler.java
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@
 package io.netty.example.http.websocketx.benchmarkserver;
 
 import io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf;
-import io.netty.buffer.Unpooled;
+import io.netty.buffer.ByteBufUtil;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelFuture;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelFutureListener;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
 import io.netty.channel.SimpleChannelInboundHandler;
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ import io.netty.handler.codec.http.DefaultFullHttpResponse;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.FullHttpRequest;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.FullHttpResponse;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpHeaderNames;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpUtil;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.websocketx.BinaryWebSocketFrame;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.websocketx.CloseWebSocketFrame;
@@ -33,18 +35,9 @@ import io.netty.handler.codec.http.websocketx.TextWebSocketFrame;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.websocketx.WebSocketFrame;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.websocketx.WebSocketServerHandshaker;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.websocketx.WebSocketServerHandshakerFactory;
-import io.netty.util.CharsetUtil;
 
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpHeaderNames.CONNECTION;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpHeaderValues.CLOSE;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpHeaderValues.KEEP_ALIVE;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpMethod.GET;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus.BAD_REQUEST;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus.FORBIDDEN;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus.OK;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus.NOT_FOUND;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpVersion.HTTP_1_0;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1;
+import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpMethod.*;
+import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus.*;
 
 /**
  * Handles handshakes and messages
@@ -72,20 +65,22 @@ public class WebSocketServerHandler extends SimpleChannelInboundHandler<Object>
     private void handleHttpRequest(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, FullHttpRequest req) {
         // Handle a bad request.
         if (!req.decoderResult().isSuccess()) {
-            sendHttpResponse(ctx, req, new DefaultFullHttpResponse(HTTP_1_1, BAD_REQUEST, Unpooled.EMPTY_BUFFER));
+            sendHttpResponse(ctx, req, new DefaultFullHttpResponse(req.protocolVersion(), BAD_REQUEST,
+                                                                   ctx.alloc().buffer(0)));
             return;
         }
 
         // Allow only GET methods.
         if (!GET.equals(req.method())) {
-            sendHttpResponse(ctx, req, new DefaultFullHttpResponse(HTTP_1_1, FORBIDDEN, Unpooled.EMPTY_BUFFER));
+            sendHttpResponse(ctx, req, new DefaultFullHttpResponse(req.protocolVersion(), FORBIDDEN,
+                                                                   ctx.alloc().buffer(0)));
             return;
         }
 
         // Send the demo page and favicon.ico
         if ("/".equals(req.uri())) {
             ByteBuf content = WebSocketServerBenchmarkPage.getContent(getWebSocketLocation(req));
-            FullHttpResponse res = new DefaultFullHttpResponse(HTTP_1_1, OK, content);
+            FullHttpResponse res = new DefaultFullHttpResponse(req.protocolVersion(), OK, content);
 
             res.headers().set(HttpHeaderNames.CONTENT_TYPE, "text/html; charset=UTF-8");
             HttpUtil.setContentLength(res, content.readableBytes());
@@ -93,8 +88,10 @@ public class WebSocketServerHandler extends SimpleChannelInboundHandler<Object>
             sendHttpResponse(ctx, req, res);
             return;
         }
+
         if ("/favicon.ico".equals(req.uri())) {
-            FullHttpResponse res = new DefaultFullHttpResponse(HTTP_1_1, NOT_FOUND, Unpooled.EMPTY_BUFFER);
+            FullHttpResponse res = new DefaultFullHttpResponse(req.protocolVersion(), NOT_FOUND,
+                                                               ctx.alloc().buffer(0));
             sendHttpResponse(ctx, req, res);
             return;
         }
@@ -132,26 +129,19 @@ public class WebSocketServerHandler extends SimpleChannelInboundHandler<Object>
         }
     }
 
-    private static void sendHttpResponse(
-            ChannelHandlerContext ctx, FullHttpRequest req, FullHttpResponse res) {
+    private static void sendHttpResponse(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, FullHttpRequest req, FullHttpResponse res) {
         // Generate an error page if response getStatus code is not OK (200).
-        if (res.status().code() != 200) {
-            ByteBuf buf = Unpooled.copiedBuffer(res.status().toString(), CharsetUtil.UTF_8);
-            res.content().writeBytes(buf);
-            buf.release();
+        HttpResponseStatus responseStatus = res.status();
+        if (responseStatus.code() != 200) {
+            ByteBufUtil.writeUtf8(res.content(), responseStatus.toString());
             HttpUtil.setContentLength(res, res.content().readableBytes());
         }
-
         // Send the response and close the connection if necessary.
-        if (!HttpUtil.isKeepAlive(req) || res.status().code() != 200) {
-            // Tell the client we're going to close the connection.
-            res.headers().set(CONNECTION, CLOSE);
-            ctx.writeAndFlush(res).addListener(ChannelFutureListener.CLOSE);
-        } else {
-            if (req.protocolVersion().equals(HTTP_1_0)) {
-                res.headers().set(CONNECTION, KEEP_ALIVE);
-            }
-            ctx.writeAndFlush(res);
+        boolean keepAlive = HttpUtil.isKeepAlive(req) && responseStatus.code() == 200;
+        HttpUtil.setKeepAlive(res, keepAlive);
+        ChannelFuture future = ctx.write(res); // Flushed in channelReadComplete()
+        if (!keepAlive) {
+            future.addListener(ChannelFutureListener.CLOSE);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/http/websocketx/server/WebSocketFrameHandler.java b/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/http/websocketx/server/WebSocketFrameHandler.java
index a4536682e1..5c0e9e02f6 100644
--- a/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/http/websocketx/server/WebSocketFrameHandler.java
+++ b/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/http/websocketx/server/WebSocketFrameHandler.java
@@ -15,13 +15,13 @@
  */
 package io.netty.example.http.websocketx.server;
 
-import java.util.Locale;
-
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
 import io.netty.channel.SimpleChannelInboundHandler;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.websocketx.TextWebSocketFrame;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.websocketx.WebSocketFrame;
 
+import java.util.Locale;
+
 /**
  * Echoes uppercase content of text frames.
  */
diff --git a/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/http/websocketx/server/WebSocketIndexPageHandler.java b/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/http/websocketx/server/WebSocketIndexPageHandler.java
index 03c57fcd2e..a020ecfe55 100644
--- a/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/http/websocketx/server/WebSocketIndexPageHandler.java
+++ b/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/http/websocketx/server/WebSocketIndexPageHandler.java
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@
 package io.netty.example.http.websocketx.server;
 
 import io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf;
-import io.netty.buffer.Unpooled;
+import io.netty.buffer.ByteBufUtil;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelFuture;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelFutureListener;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelPipeline;
@@ -26,21 +27,13 @@ import io.netty.handler.codec.http.FullHttpRequest;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.FullHttpResponse;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpHeaderNames;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpRequest;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpUtil;
 import io.netty.handler.ssl.SslHandler;
-import io.netty.util.CharsetUtil;
 
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpHeaderNames.CONTENT_TYPE;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpHeaderNames.CONNECTION;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpHeaderValues.CLOSE;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpHeaderValues.KEEP_ALIVE;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpMethod.GET;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus.BAD_REQUEST;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus.FORBIDDEN;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus.NOT_FOUND;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus.OK;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpVersion.HTTP_1_0;
-import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1;
+import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpHeaderNames.*;
+import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpMethod.*;
+import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseStatus.*;
 
 /**
  * Outputs index page content.
@@ -57,13 +50,15 @@ public class WebSocketIndexPageHandler extends SimpleChannelInboundHandler<FullH
     protected void channelRead0(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, FullHttpRequest req) throws Exception {
         // Handle a bad request.
         if (!req.decoderResult().isSuccess()) {
-            sendHttpResponse(ctx, req, new DefaultFullHttpResponse(HTTP_1_1, BAD_REQUEST, Unpooled.EMPTY_BUFFER));
+            sendHttpResponse(ctx, req, new DefaultFullHttpResponse(req.protocolVersion(), BAD_REQUEST,
+                                                                   ctx.alloc().buffer(0)));
             return;
         }
 
         // Allow only GET methods.
         if (!GET.equals(req.method())) {
-            sendHttpResponse(ctx, req, new DefaultFullHttpResponse(HTTP_1_1, FORBIDDEN, Unpooled.EMPTY_BUFFER));
+            sendHttpResponse(ctx, req, new DefaultFullHttpResponse(req.protocolVersion(), FORBIDDEN,
+                                                                   ctx.alloc().buffer(0)));
             return;
         }
 
@@ -71,14 +66,15 @@ public class WebSocketIndexPageHandler extends SimpleChannelInboundHandler<FullH
         if ("/".equals(req.uri()) || "/index.html".equals(req.uri())) {
             String webSocketLocation = getWebSocketLocation(ctx.pipeline(), req, websocketPath);
             ByteBuf content = WebSocketServerIndexPage.getContent(webSocketLocation);
-            FullHttpResponse res = new DefaultFullHttpResponse(HTTP_1_1, OK, content);
+            FullHttpResponse res = new DefaultFullHttpResponse(req.protocolVersion(), OK, content);
 
             res.headers().set(CONTENT_TYPE, "text/html; charset=UTF-8");
             HttpUtil.setContentLength(res, content.readableBytes());
 
             sendHttpResponse(ctx, req, res);
         } else {
-            sendHttpResponse(ctx, req, new DefaultFullHttpResponse(HTTP_1_1, NOT_FOUND, Unpooled.EMPTY_BUFFER));
+            sendHttpResponse(ctx, req, new DefaultFullHttpResponse(req.protocolVersion(), NOT_FOUND,
+                                                                   ctx.alloc().buffer(0)));
         }
     }
 
@@ -90,23 +86,17 @@ public class WebSocketIndexPageHandler extends SimpleChannelInboundHandler<FullH
 
     private static void sendHttpResponse(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, FullHttpRequest req, FullHttpResponse res) {
         // Generate an error page if response getStatus code is not OK (200).
-        if (res.status().code() != 200) {
-            ByteBuf buf = Unpooled.copiedBuffer(res.status().toString(), CharsetUtil.UTF_8);
-            res.content().writeBytes(buf);
-            buf.release();
+        HttpResponseStatus responseStatus = res.status();
+        if (responseStatus.code() != 200) {
+            ByteBufUtil.writeUtf8(res.content(), responseStatus.toString());
             HttpUtil.setContentLength(res, res.content().readableBytes());
         }
-
         // Send the response and close the connection if necessary.
-        if (!HttpUtil.isKeepAlive(req) || res.status().code() != 200) {
-            // Tell the client we're going to close the connection.
-            res.headers().set(CONNECTION, CLOSE);
-            ctx.writeAndFlush(res).addListener(ChannelFutureListener.CLOSE);
-        } else {
-            if (req.protocolVersion().equals(HTTP_1_0)) {
-                res.headers().set(CONNECTION, KEEP_ALIVE);
-            }
-            ctx.writeAndFlush(res);
+        boolean keepAlive = HttpUtil.isKeepAlive(req) && responseStatus.code() == 200;
+        HttpUtil.setKeepAlive(res, keepAlive);
+        ChannelFuture future = ctx.writeAndFlush(res);
+        if (!keepAlive) {
+            future.addListener(ChannelFutureListener.CLOSE);
         }
     }