diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4382a8d..7146bfd 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -35,3 +35,5 @@ nosetests.xml
 .project
 .pydevproject
 twython/.DS_Store
+
+test.py
diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index 76b4c86..3a2853c 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 History
 -------
 
+2.9.0 (2013-05-xx)
+++++++++++++++++++
+
+- Fixed streaming issue #144, added ``TwythonStreamer`` and ``TwythonStreamHandler`` to aid users in a friendly streaming experience
+
 2.8.0 (2013-04-29)
 ++++++++++++++++++
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 38205f9..6d8bdc2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -103,23 +103,26 @@ except TwythonAuthError as e:
 ```
 
 ##### Streaming API
-*Usage is as follows; it's designed to be open-ended enough that you can adapt it to higher-level (read: Twitter must give you access)
-streams.*
 
 ```python
-from twython import Twython
+from twython import TwythonStreamer, TwythonStreamHandler
 
-def on_results(results):
-    """A callback to handle passed results. Wheeee.
-    """
 
-    print results
+class MyHandler(TwythonStreamHandler):
+    def on_success(self, data):
+        print data
 
-Twython.stream({
-    'username': 'your_username',
-    'password': 'your_password',
-    'track': 'python'
-}, on_results)
+    def on_error(self, status_code, data):
+        print status_code, data
+
+handler = MyHandler()
+
+# Requires Authentication as of Twitter API v1.1
+stream = TwythonStreamer(APP_KEY, APP_SECRET,
+                         OAUTH_TOKEN, OAUTH_TOKEN_SECRET,
+                         handler)
+
+stream.statuses.filter(track='twitter')
 ```
 
 Notes
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 3b0117f..9c5f58e 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -111,24 +111,27 @@ Catching exceptions
 
 Streaming API
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-*Usage is as follows; it's designed to be open-ended enough that you can adapt it to higher-level (read: Twitter must give you access)
-streams.*
 
 ::
 
-    from twython import Twython
-    
-    def on_results(results):
-        """A callback to handle passed results. Wheeee.
-        """
+    from twython import TwythonStreamer, TwythonStreamHandler
 
-        print results
 
-    Twython.stream({
-        'username': 'your_username',
-        'password': 'your_password',
-        'track': 'python'
-    }, on_results)
+    class MyHandler(TwythonStreamHandler):
+        def on_success(self, data):
+            print data
+
+        def on_error(self, status_code, data):
+            print status_code, data
+
+    handler = MyHandler()
+
+    # Requires Authentication as of Twitter API v1.1
+    stream = TwythonStreamer(APP_KEY, APP_SECRET,
+                             OAUTH_TOKEN, OAUTH_TOKEN_SECRET,
+                             handler)
+
+    stream.statuses.filter(track='twitter')
 
 
 Notes
diff --git a/examples/stream.py b/examples/stream.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0fee30c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/stream.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+from twython import TwythonStreamer, TwythonStreamHandler
+
+
+class MyHandler(TwythonStreamHandler):
+    def on_success(self, data):
+        print data
+
+    def on_error(self, status_code, data):
+        print status_code, data
+
+handler = MyHandler()
+
+# Requires Authentication as of Twitter API v1.1
+stream = TwythonStreamer(APP_KEY, APP_SECRET,
+                         OAUTH_TOKEN, OAUTH_TOKEN_SECRET,
+                         handler)
+
+stream.statuses.filter(track='twitter')
+#stream.user(track='twitter')
+#stream.site(follow='twitter')
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 8b7702b..14c5439 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import sys
 from setuptools import setup
 
 __author__ = 'Ryan McGrath <ryan@venodesigns.net>'
-__version__ = '2.8.0'
+__version__ = '2.9.0'
 
 packages = [
     'twython'
diff --git a/twython/__init__.py b/twython/__init__.py
index 76ce26c..481750e 100644
--- a/twython/__init__.py
+++ b/twython/__init__.py
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ Questions, comments? ryan@venodesigns.net
 """
 
 __author__ = 'Ryan McGrath <ryan@venodesigns.net>'
-__version__ = '2.8.0'
+__version__ = '2.9.0'
 
 from .twython import Twython
+from .streaming import TwythonStreamer, TwythonStreamHandler
 from .exceptions import TwythonError, TwythonRateLimitError, TwythonAuthError
diff --git a/twython/exceptions.py b/twython/exceptions.py
index 17736e4..265356a 100644
--- a/twython/exceptions.py
+++ b/twython/exceptions.py
@@ -46,3 +46,8 @@ class TwythonRateLimitError(TwythonError):
         if isinstance(retry_after, int):
             msg = '%s (Retry after %d seconds)' % (msg, retry_after)
         TwythonError.__init__(self, msg, error_code=error_code)
+
+
+class TwythonStreamError(TwythonError):
+    """Test"""
+    pass
diff --git a/twython/streaming.py b/twython/streaming.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0666367
--- /dev/null
+++ b/twython/streaming.py
@@ -0,0 +1,224 @@
+from . import __version__
+from .compat import json
+from .exceptions import TwythonStreamError
+
+import requests
+from requests_oauthlib import OAuth1
+
+import time
+
+
+class TwythonStreamHandler(object):
+    def on_success(self, data):
+        """Called when data has been successfull received from the stream
+
+        Feel free to override this in your own handler.
+        See https://dev.twitter.com/docs/streaming-apis/messages for messages
+        sent along in stream responses.
+
+        :param data: dict of data recieved from the stream
+        """
+
+        if 'delete' in data:
+            self.on_delete(data.get('delete'))
+        elif 'limit' in data:
+            self.on_limit(data.get('limit'))
+        elif 'disconnect' in data:
+            self.on_disconnect(data.get('disconnect'))
+
+    def on_error(self, status_code, data):
+        """Called when stream returns non-200 status code
+
+        :param status_code: Non-200 status code sent from stream
+        :param data: Error message sent from stream
+        """
+        return
+
+    def on_delete(self, data):
+        """Called when a deletion notice is received
+
+        Twitter docs for deletion notices: http://spen.se/8qujd
+
+        :param data: dict of data from the 'delete' key recieved from
+                     the stream
+        """
+        return data
+
+    def on_limit(self, data):
+        """Called when a limit notice is received
+
+        Twitter docs for limit notices: http://spen.se/hzt0b
+
+        :param data: dict of data from the 'limit' key recieved from
+                     the stream
+        """
+        return data
+
+    def on_disconnect(self, data):
+        """Called when a disconnect notice is received
+
+        Twitter docs for disconnect notices: http://spen.se/xb6mm
+
+        :param data: dict of data from the 'disconnect' key recieved from
+                     the stream
+        """
+        return data
+
+    def on_timeout(self):
+        return
+
+
+class TwythonStreamStatuses(object):
+    """Class for different statuses endpoints
+
+    Available so TwythonStreamer.statuses.filter() is available.
+    Just a bit cleaner than TwythonStreamer.statuses_filter(),
+    statuses_sample(), etc. all being single methods in TwythonStreamer
+    """
+    def __init__(self, streamer):
+        self.streamer = streamer
+
+    def filter(self, **params):
+        """Stream statuses/filter
+
+        Accepted params found at:
+        https://dev.twitter.com/docs/api/1.1/post/statuses/filter
+        """
+        url = 'https://stream.twitter.com/%s/statuses/filter.json' \
+              % self.streamer.api_version
+        self.streamer._request(url, 'POST', params=params)
+
+    def sample(self, **params):
+        """Stream statuses/sample
+
+        Accepted params found at:
+        https://dev.twitter.com/docs/api/1.1/get/statuses/sample
+        """
+        url = 'https://stream.twitter.com/%s/statuses/sample.json' \
+              % self.streamer.api_version
+        self.streamer._request(url, params=params)
+
+    def firehose(self, **params):
+        """Stream statuses/filter
+
+        Accepted params found at:
+        https://dev.twitter.com/docs/api/1.1/get/statuses/firehose
+        """
+        url = 'https://stream.twitter.com/%s/statuses/firehose.json' \
+              % self.streamer.api_version
+        self.streamer._request(url, params=params)
+
+
+class TwythonStreamTypes(object):
+    """Class for different stream endpoints
+
+    Not all streaming endpoints have nested endpoints.
+    User Streams and Site Streams are single streams with no nested endpoints
+    Status Streams include filter, sample and firehose endpoints
+    """
+    def __init__(self, streamer):
+        self.streamer = streamer
+        self.statuses = TwythonStreamStatuses(streamer)
+
+    def user(self, **params):
+        """Stream user
+
+        Accepted params found at:
+        https://dev.twitter.com/docs/api/1.1/get/user
+        """
+        url = 'https://userstream.twitter.com/%s/user.json' \
+              % self.streamer.api_version
+        self.streamer._request(url, params=params)
+
+    def site(self, **params):
+        """Stream site
+
+        Accepted params found at:
+        https://dev.twitter.com/docs/api/1.1/get/site
+        """
+        url = 'https://sitestream.twitter.com/%s/site.json' \
+              % self.streamer.api_version
+        self.streamer._request(url, params=params)
+
+
+class TwythonStreamer(object):
+    def __init__(self, app_key, app_secret, oauth_token, oauth_token_secret,
+                 handler, timeout=300, retry_count=None, retry_in=10,
+                 headers=None):
+        """Streaming class for a friendly streaming user experience
+
+        :param app_key: (required) Your applications key
+        :param app_secret: (required) Your applications secret key
+        :param oauth_token: (required) Used with oauth_token_secret to make
+                            authenticated calls
+        :param oauth_token_secret: (required) Used with oauth_token to make
+                                   authenticated calls
+        :param handler: (required) Instance of TwythonStreamHandler to handle
+                        stream responses
+        :param headers: (optional) Custom headers to send along with the
+                        request
+        """
+
+        self.auth = OAuth1(app_key, app_secret,
+                           oauth_token, oauth_token_secret)
+
+        self.headers = {'User-Agent': 'Twython Streaming v' + __version__}
+        if headers:
+            self.headers.update(headers)
+
+        self.client = requests.Session()
+        self.client.auth = self.auth
+        self.client.headers = self.headers
+        self.client.stream = True
+
+        self.timeout = timeout
+
+        self.api_version = '1.1'
+
+        self.handler = handler
+
+        self.retry_in = retry_in
+        self.retry_count = retry_count
+
+        # Set up type methods
+        StreamTypes = TwythonStreamTypes(self)
+        self.statuses = StreamTypes.statuses
+        self.__dict__['user'] = StreamTypes.user
+        self.__dict__['site'] = StreamTypes.site
+
+    def _request(self, url, method='GET', params=None):
+        """Internal stream request handling"""
+        retry_counter = 0
+
+        method = method.lower()
+        func = getattr(self.client, method)
+
+        def _send(retry_counter):
+            try:
+                if method == 'get':
+                    response = func(url, params=params, timeout=self.timeout)
+                else:
+                    response = func(url, data=params, timeout=self.timeout)
+            except requests.exceptions.Timeout:
+                self.handler.on_timeout()
+            else:
+                if response.status_code != 200:
+                    self.handler.on_error(response.status_code,
+                                          response.content)
+
+                if self.retry_count and (self.retry_count - retry_counter) > 0:
+                    time.sleep(self.retry_in)
+                    retry_counter += 1
+                    _send(retry_counter)
+
+                return response
+
+        response = _send(retry_counter)
+
+        for line in response.iter_lines():
+            if line:
+                try:
+                    self.handler.on_success(json.loads(line))
+                except ValueError:
+                    raise TwythonStreamError('Response was not valid JSON, \
+                                              unable to decode.')
diff --git a/twython/twython.py b/twython/twython.py
index 1297436..7e1cbf1 100644
--- a/twython/twython.py
+++ b/twython/twython.py
@@ -405,60 +405,6 @@ class Twython(object):
 
     ###########################################################################
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def stream(data, callback):
-        """A Streaming API endpoint, because requests (by Kenneth Reitz)
-            makes this not stupidly annoying to implement.
-
-            In reality, Twython does absolutely *nothing special* here,
-            but people new to programming expect this type of function to
-            exist for this library, so we provide it for convenience.
-
-            Seriously, this is nothing special. :)
-
-            For the basic stream you're probably accessing, you'll want to
-            pass the following as data dictionary keys. If you need to use
-            OAuth (newer streams), passing secrets/etc
-            as keys SHOULD work...
-
-            This is all done over SSL (https://), so you're not left
-            totally vulnerable by passing your password.
-
-            :param username: (required) Username, self explanatory.
-            :param password: (required) The Streaming API doesn't use OAuth,
-                             so we do this the old school way.
-            :param callback: (required) Callback function to be fired when
-                             tweets come in (this is an event-based-ish API).
-            :param endpoint: (optional) Override the endpoint you're using
-                             with the Twitter Streaming API. This is defaulted
-                             to the one that everyone has access to, but if
-                             Twitter <3's you feel free to set this to your
-                             wildest desires.
-        """
-        endpoint = 'https://stream.twitter.com/1/statuses/filter.json'
-        if 'endpoint' in data:
-            endpoint = data.pop('endpoint')
-
-        needs_basic_auth = False
-        if 'username' in data and 'password' in data:
-            needs_basic_auth = True
-            username = data.pop('username')
-            password = data.pop('password')
-
-        if needs_basic_auth:
-            stream = requests.post(endpoint,
-                                   data=data,
-                                   auth=(username, password))
-        else:
-            stream = requests.post(endpoint, data=data)
-
-        for line in stream.iter_lines():
-            if line:
-                try:
-                    callback(json.loads(line))
-                except ValueError:
-                    raise TwythonError('Response was not valid JSON, unable to decode.')
-
     @staticmethod
     def unicode2utf8(text):
         try: