diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 2b7e6d8b9b..e5b6a8eeae 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@
     "libp2p-secio": "~0.11.0",
     "libp2p-tcp": "~0.13.0",
     "libp2p-webrtc-star": "~0.15.5",
-    "libp2p-websocket-star": "~0.10.0",
+    "libp2p-websocket-star-multi": "~0.4.0",
     "libp2p-websockets": "~0.12.0",
     "lodash": "^4.17.11",
     "mafmt": "^6.0.2",
diff --git a/src/core/runtime/libp2p-browser.js b/src/core/runtime/libp2p-browser.js
index fec12fa9a3..2a14416f93 100644
--- a/src/core/runtime/libp2p-browser.js
+++ b/src/core/runtime/libp2p-browser.js
@@ -2,17 +2,23 @@
 
 const WS = require('libp2p-websockets')
 const WebRTCStar = require('libp2p-webrtc-star')
-const WebSocketStar = require('libp2p-websocket-star')
+const WebSocketStarMulti = require('libp2p-websocket-star-multi')
 const Multiplex = require('libp2p-mplex')
 const SECIO = require('libp2p-secio')
 const Bootstrap = require('libp2p-bootstrap')
 const libp2p = require('libp2p')
 const defaultsDeep = require('@nodeutils/defaults-deep')
+const multiaddr = require('multiaddr')
 
 class Node extends libp2p {
   constructor (_options) {
     const wrtcstar = new WebRTCStar({ id: _options.peerInfo.id })
-    const wsstar = new WebSocketStar({ id: _options.peerInfo.id })
+
+    // this can be replaced once optional listening is supported with the below code. ref: https://github.com/libp2p/interface-transport/issues/41
+    // const wsstar = new WebSocketStar({ id: _options.peerInfo.id })
+    const wsstarServers = _options.peerInfo.multiaddrs.toArray().map(String).filter(addr => addr.includes('p2p-websocket-star'))
+    _options.peerInfo.multiaddrs.replace(wsstarServers.map(multiaddr), '/p2p-websocket-star') // the ws-star-multi module will replace this with the chosen ws-star servers
+    const wsstar = new WebSocketStarMulti({ servers: wsstarServers, id: _options.peerInfo.id, ignore_no_online: !wsstarServers.length || _options.wsStarIgnoreErrors })
 
     const defaults = {
       modules: {
diff --git a/src/core/runtime/libp2p-nodejs.js b/src/core/runtime/libp2p-nodejs.js
index 1b59c435c7..df50ec984d 100644
--- a/src/core/runtime/libp2p-nodejs.js
+++ b/src/core/runtime/libp2p-nodejs.js
@@ -3,17 +3,22 @@
 const TCP = require('libp2p-tcp')
 const MulticastDNS = require('libp2p-mdns')
 const WS = require('libp2p-websockets')
-const WebSocketStar = require('libp2p-websocket-star')
+const WebSocketStarMulti = require('libp2p-websocket-star-multi')
 const Bootstrap = require('libp2p-bootstrap')
 const KadDHT = require('libp2p-kad-dht')
 const Multiplex = require('libp2p-mplex')
 const SECIO = require('libp2p-secio')
 const libp2p = require('libp2p')
 const defaultsDeep = require('@nodeutils/defaults-deep')
+const multiaddr = require('multiaddr')
 
 class Node extends libp2p {
   constructor (_options) {
-    const wsstar = new WebSocketStar({ id: _options.peerInfo.id })
+    // this can be replaced once optional listening is supported with the below code. ref: https://github.com/libp2p/interface-transport/issues/41
+    // const wsstar = new WebSocketStar({ id: _options.peerInfo.id })
+    const wsstarServers = _options.peerInfo.multiaddrs.toArray().map(String).filter(addr => addr.includes('p2p-websocket-star'))
+    _options.peerInfo.multiaddrs.replace(wsstarServers.map(multiaddr), '/p2p-websocket-star') // the ws-star-multi module will replace this with the chosen ws-star servers
+    const wsstar = new WebSocketStarMulti({ servers: wsstarServers, id: _options.peerInfo.id, ignore_no_online: !wsstarServers.length || _options.wsStarIgnoreErrors })
 
     const defaults = {
       modules: {