diff --git a/uartx/ringbuffer.go b/uartx/ringbuffer.go
index 303b9d6..f57e653 100644
--- a/uartx/ringbuffer.go
+++ b/uartx/ringbuffer.go
@@ -2,21 +2,44 @@
 
 //go:build atmega || esp || nrf || sam || sifive || stm32 || k210 || nxp || rp2040 || rp2350
 
-// An API-compatible replacement for machine.RingBuffer with an added Size() method.
-// Methods and semantics match TinyGo's implementation.
+// RingBuffer is the single-producer/single-consumer byte queue that sits
+// between the UART interrupt handler and the foreground reader. It used to
+// be an API-compatible replacement for TinyGo's machine.RingBuffer, whose
+// default capacity is 128 bytes. That default is too small for interrupt-
+// driven use at typical bauds (see the file-level comment on bufferSize);
+// the size and index width here have been raised so the ring can absorb
+// longer foreground stalls without silently dropping bytes.
 
 package uartx
 
 import "runtime/volatile"
 
-// Choose a power-of-two size for efficient modulo.
-const bufferSize uint8 = 128
+// bufferSize is the per-instance RX/TX ring capacity in bytes.
+//
+// At 115200 baud a byte arrives every ~87 us, so 128 bytes is only about
+// 11 ms of headroom between the ISR producing and the foreground consuming.
+// Any stall longer than that (a flash page program, a GC pause, a heavy
+// scheduled task) causes the ISR's Put to start failing and bytes are lost
+// with no visible symptom other than downstream data corruption.
+//
+// 4096 bytes gives ~355 ms of headroom at 115200 (and scales linearly with
+// baud), which is large enough to absorb any realistic stall on the MCUs
+// this package currently targets. The cost is 2 * bufferSize bytes of
+// static RAM per UART (one RX, one TX); on RP2040/RP2350 with hundreds of
+// KB of SRAM this is negligible.
+//
+// bufferSize must remain a power of two so `(h+1) % bufferSize` compiles
+// to a bitmask.
+const bufferSize uint16 = 4096
 
-// RingBuffer is a byte ring buffer compatible with TinyGo's machine.RingBuffer.
+// RingBuffer is a byte ring buffer. The head/tail indices are uint16 so
+// the capacity can exceed 255 bytes without wraparound ambiguity; the
+// existing head-minus-tail arithmetic still works because uint16
+// subtraction is modulo 2^16 which is a multiple of bufferSize.
 type RingBuffer struct {
 	rxbuffer [bufferSize]volatile.Register8
-	head     volatile.Register8
-	tail     volatile.Register8
+	head     volatile.Register16
+	tail     volatile.Register16
 }
 
 // NewRingBuffer returns a new ring buffer.
@@ -25,13 +48,13 @@ func NewRingBuffer() *RingBuffer {
 }
 
 // Size returns the total capacity of the buffer in bytes.
-func (rb *RingBuffer) Size() uint8 {
+func (rb *RingBuffer) Size() uint16 {
 	return bufferSize
 }
 
 // Used returns how many bytes in buffer have been used.
-func (rb *RingBuffer) Used() uint8 {
-	return uint8(rb.head.Get() - rb.tail.Get())
+func (rb *RingBuffer) Used() uint16 {
+	return uint16(rb.head.Get() - rb.tail.Get())
 }
 
 // Put stores a byte in the buffer. If the buffer is already full, it returns false.
diff --git a/uartx/rp2_uart.go b/uartx/rp2_uart.go
index fa00450..d38688b 100644
--- a/uartx/rp2_uart.go
+++ b/uartx/rp2_uart.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"machine"
 	"runtime/interrupt"
+	"runtime/volatile"
 )
 
 // UART represents a single PL011 instance on RP2040/RP2350.
@@ -38,6 +39,15 @@ type UART struct {
 	notify    chan struct{} // coalesced RX readiness notifications
 
 	baud uint32 // last configured baud (for diagnostics, not used by HW)
+
+	// Drop counters incremented from the RX ISR and read from foreground
+	// context via RXDrops. Single writer (the ISR) plus 32-bit aligned
+	// reads means no locking is required on a single-core MCU. On a
+	// dual-core MCU these are still race-free for Cortex-M0+/M33 because
+	// aligned 32-bit loads and stores are naturally atomic; the counters
+	// may however read slightly stale in that case.
+	rxHwDrops volatile.Register32 // bytes with PL011 error bits set (OE/BE/PE/FE)
+	rxSwDrops volatile.Register32 // bytes the ISR could not enqueue because Buffer was full
 }
 
 // Configure sets up the PL011, its pins and interrupts. It leaves RXIM/RTIM
@@ -303,13 +313,21 @@ func (uart *UART) handleInterrupt(interrupt.Interrupt) {
 			r := uart.Bus.UARTDR.Get()
 			if (r & (rp.UART0_UARTDR_OE | rp.UART0_UARTDR_BE |
 				rp.UART0_UARTDR_PE | rp.UART0_UARTDR_FE)) != 0 {
-				// Drop errored byte; reading DR clears the per-byte error flags.
+				// Drop errored byte; reading DR clears the per-byte error
+				// flags. UARTDR_OE specifically means the hardware FIFO
+				// overflowed before this ISR got here, so this counts as
+				// an observable drop from the consumer's point of view.
+				uart.rxHwDrops.Set(uart.rxHwDrops.Get() + 1)
 				continue
 			}
 			if uart.Buffer.Put(byte(r & 0xFF)) {
 				enq++
 			} else {
-				// optional rxDrops++
+				// Software RX ring is full: the foreground hasn't drained
+				// it in time. Count the drop so the application can
+				// surface it; silently losing bytes here is what motivated
+				// the ring resize and these counters.
+				uart.rxSwDrops.Set(uart.rxSwDrops.Get() + 1)
 			}
 		}
 
diff --git a/uartx/uartx.go b/uartx/uartx.go
index 9757304..62c2082 100644
--- a/uartx/uartx.go
+++ b/uartx/uartx.go
@@ -184,3 +184,19 @@ func (u *UART) TxFree() int { return int(u.TxBuffer.Size() - u.TxBuffer.Used())
 func (uart *UART) Receive(data byte) {
 	uart.Buffer.Put(data)
 }
+
+// RXDrops returns the cumulative number of RX bytes that have been dropped
+// since boot. hw counts bytes that arrived from the PL011 with any of its
+// per-byte error bits set (OE, BE, PE, FE); the most informative of these
+// is OE, which means the hardware FIFO overflowed before the ISR serviced
+// it. sw counts bytes the ISR could not enqueue because the software RX
+// ring was full. Both counters are monotonic and wrap at 2^32.
+//
+// In a healthy steady state both counters should stay at zero at the
+// package's supported bauds. A nonzero hw count indicates ISR latency
+// exceeded one character time at the configured baud; a nonzero sw count
+// indicates the application's foreground consumer is not draining the
+// ring fast enough.
+func (uart *UART) RXDrops() (hw, sw uint32) {
+	return uart.rxHwDrops.Get(), uart.rxSwDrops.Get()
+}