diff --git a/pageserver/src/walreceiver/connection_manager.rs b/pageserver/src/walreceiver/connection_manager.rs
index f2aa7ce2cf..f2b1671eb4 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/walreceiver/connection_manager.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/walreceiver/connection_manager.rs
@@ -230,8 +230,8 @@ async fn subscribe_for_timeline_updates(
     }
 }
 
-const DEFAULT_BASE_BACKOFF_SECONDS: f64 = 2.0;
-const DEFAULT_MAX_BACKOFF_SECONDS: f64 = 60.0;
+const DEFAULT_BASE_BACKOFF_SECONDS: f64 = 0.1;
+const DEFAULT_MAX_BACKOFF_SECONDS: f64 = 3.0;
 
 async fn exponential_backoff(n: u32, base: f64, max_seconds: f64) {
     if n == 0 {