diff --git a/packet_packer_test.go b/packet_packer_test.go
index c0a3ab8b..c6c81d59 100644
--- a/packet_packer_test.go
+++ b/packet_packer_test.go
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ var _ = Describe("Packet packer", func() {
 			packetNumberGenerator:       newPacketNumberGenerator(protocol.SkipPacketAveragePeriodLength),
 			streamFramer:                streamFramer,
 		}
-		publicHeaderLen = 1 + 8 + 1 // 1 flag byte, 8 connection ID, 1 packet number
+		publicHeaderLen = 1 + 8 + 2 // 1 flag byte, 8 connection ID, 2 packet number
 		packer.version = protocol.Version34
 	})
 
diff --git a/protocol/packet_number.go b/protocol/packet_number.go
index 3900464d..c4f468ad 100644
--- a/protocol/packet_number.go
+++ b/protocol/packet_number.go
@@ -28,11 +28,9 @@ func delta(a, b PacketNumber) PacketNumber {
 }
 
 // GetPacketNumberLengthForPublicHeader gets the length of the packet number for the public header
+// it never chooses a PacketNumberLen of 1 byte, since this is too short under certain circumstances
 func GetPacketNumberLengthForPublicHeader(packetNumber PacketNumber, leastUnacked PacketNumber) PacketNumberLen {
 	diff := uint64(packetNumber - leastUnacked)
-	if diff < (2 << (uint8(PacketNumberLen1)*8 - 2)) {
-		return PacketNumberLen1
-	}
 	if diff < (2 << (uint8(PacketNumberLen2)*8 - 2)) {
 		return PacketNumberLen2
 	}
diff --git a/protocol/packet_number_test.go b/protocol/packet_number_test.go
index f179504f..aa1886a2 100644
--- a/protocol/packet_number_test.go
+++ b/protocol/packet_number_test.go
@@ -128,20 +128,20 @@ var _ = Describe("packet number calculation", func() {
 
 	Context("shortening a packet number for the publicHeader", func() {
 		Context("shortening", func() {
-			It("sends out low packet numbers as 1 byte", func() {
+			It("sends out low packet numbers as 2 byte", func() {
 				length := GetPacketNumberLengthForPublicHeader(4, 2)
-				Expect(length).To(Equal(PacketNumberLen1))
-			})
-
-			It("sends out high packet numbers as 1 byte, if all ACKs are received", func() {
-				length := GetPacketNumberLengthForPublicHeader(0xDEADBEEF, 0xDEADBEEF-1)
-				Expect(length).To(Equal(PacketNumberLen1))
-			})
-
-			It("sends out higher packet numbers as 2 bytes, if a lot of ACKs are missing", func() {
-				length := GetPacketNumberLengthForPublicHeader(200, 2)
 				Expect(length).To(Equal(PacketNumberLen2))
 			})
+
+			It("sends out high packet numbers as 2 byte, if all ACKs are received", func() {
+				length := GetPacketNumberLengthForPublicHeader(0xDEADBEEF, 0xDEADBEEF-1)
+				Expect(length).To(Equal(PacketNumberLen2))
+			})
+
+			It("sends out higher packet numbers as 4 bytes, if a lot of ACKs are missing", func() {
+				length := GetPacketNumberLengthForPublicHeader(40000, 2)
+				Expect(length).To(Equal(PacketNumberLen4))
+			})
 		})
 
 		Context("self-consistency", func() {