diff --git a/meshtastic/serial_interface.py b/meshtastic/serial_interface.py
index 7133b392..39f26482 100644
--- a/meshtastic/serial_interface.py
+++ b/meshtastic/serial_interface.py
@@ -46,12 +46,7 @@ def __init__(self, devPath: Optional[str]=None, debugOut=None, noProto: bool=Fal
 
         logging.debug(f"Connecting to {self.devPath}")
 
-        # set port to None to prevent automatically opening
-        self.stream = serial.Serial(
-            port=None, baudrate=115200, exclusive=True, timeout=0.5, write_timeout=0
-        )
-
-        # first we need to clear HUPCL (UNIX) or clear RTS/DTR (Windows) so the device will not reboot based on RTS and/or DTR
+        # first we need to set the HUPCL so the device will not reboot based on RTS and/or DTR
         # see https://github.com/pyserial/pyserial/issues/124
         if platform.system() != "Windows":
             with open(self.devPath, encoding="utf8") as f:
@@ -60,14 +55,10 @@ def __init__(self, devPath: Optional[str]=None, debugOut=None, noProto: bool=Fal
                 termios.tcsetattr(f, termios.TCSAFLUSH, attrs)
                 f.close()
             time.sleep(0.1)
-        else:
-            self.stream.rts = 0
-            self.stream.dtr = 0
-
-        # set proper port and open now that we've worked-around RTS/DTR issues
-        self.stream.port = self.devPath
-        self.stream.open()
 
+        self.stream = serial.Serial(
+            self.devPath, 115200, exclusive=True, timeout=0.5, write_timeout=0
+        )
         self.stream.flush()	# type: ignore[attr-defined]
         time.sleep(0.1)