diff --git a/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/gateway/mqtt_client.go b/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/gateway/mqtt_client.go
index 40289aba..99f7bed7 100644
--- a/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/gateway/mqtt_client.go
+++ b/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/gateway/mqtt_client.go
@@ -108,6 +108,8 @@ func (c *MQTTClient) buildOptions(ctx context.Context) (*mqtt.ClientOptions, err
 		SetAutoReconnect(true).
 		SetConnectRetry(true).
 		SetConnectRetryInterval(5 * time.Second).
+		SetResumeSubs(true).
+		SetOrderMatters(false).
 		SetKeepAlive(keepAlive).
 		SetConnectTimeout(connectTimeout)
 
diff --git a/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/gateway/mqtt_client_test.go b/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/gateway/mqtt_client_test.go
index 1f21fd26..a5cbd696 100644
--- a/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/gateway/mqtt_client_test.go
+++ b/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/gateway/mqtt_client_test.go
@@ -111,6 +111,12 @@ func TestMQTTClientBuildOptionsLoadsTLSCertificates(t *testing.T) {
 	if !opts.CleanSession {
 		t.Fatal("CleanSession should be true")
 	}
+	if opts.Order {
+		t.Fatal("OrderMatters should be false so MQTT network handling is not blocked by Kafka/DB work")
+	}
+	if !opts.ResumeSubs {
+		t.Fatal("ResumeSubs should be true to avoid subscribe failures during reconnect churn")
+	}
 	if got := opts.KeepAlive; got != 20 {
 		t.Fatalf("KeepAlive = %d, want 20", got)
 	}
diff --git a/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/history/writer.go b/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/history/writer.go
index c58f6b25..e54b4553 100644
--- a/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/history/writer.go
+++ b/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/history/writer.go
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ func rawValues(env envelope.FrameEnvelope) []any {
 		messageIDInt(env.MessageID),
 		eventTime,
 		received,
-		rawSize(env.RawHex),
+		rawSizeBytes(env),
 		env.RawHex,
 		env.RawText,
 		jsonString(env.Parsed),
@@ -200,12 +200,15 @@ func messageIDInt(value string) int64 {
 	return parsed
 }
 
-func rawSize(rawHex string) int {
-	rawHex = strings.TrimSpace(rawHex)
+func rawSizeBytes(env envelope.FrameEnvelope) int {
+	rawHex := strings.TrimSpace(env.RawHex)
 	if len(rawHex)%2 != 0 {
 		return len(rawHex) / 2
 	}
-	return len(rawHex) / 2
+	if rawHex != "" {
+		return len(rawHex) / 2
+	}
+	return len([]byte(env.RawText))
 }
 
 func jsonString(value any) string {
diff --git a/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/history/writer_test.go b/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/history/writer_test.go
index ddc27c61..255d94e5 100644
--- a/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/history/writer_test.go
+++ b/go/vehicle-gateway/internal/history/writer_test.go
@@ -75,6 +75,18 @@ func TestWriterSkipsSparseDerivedRows(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestRawSizeBytesUsesRawTextWhenHexIsEmpty(t *testing.T) {
+	env := envelope.FrameEnvelope{RawText: `{"code":"0F80","data":{"speed":12}}`}
+	if got, want := rawSizeBytes(env), len([]byte(env.RawText)); got != want {
+		t.Fatalf("raw text size = %d, want %d", got, want)
+	}
+
+	env.RawHex = "7E0200"
+	if got, want := rawSizeBytes(env), 3; got != want {
+		t.Fatalf("raw hex size = %d, want %d", got, want)
+	}
+}
+
 func sampleEnvelope() envelope.FrameEnvelope {
 	return envelope.FrameEnvelope{
 		Protocol:       envelope.ProtocolJT808,