diff --git a/internal/p2p/p2ptest/network.go b/internal/p2p/p2ptest/network.go
index 9115b70ee..7f760e968 100644
--- a/internal/p2p/p2ptest/network.go
+++ b/internal/p2p/p2ptest/network.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package p2ptest
 
 import (
-	"context"
 	"math/rand"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
@@ -254,7 +253,7 @@ func (n *Network) MakeNode(t *testing.T, opts NodeOptions) *Node {
 		privKey,
 		peerManager,
 		[]p2p.Transport{transport},
-		p2p.RouterOptions{DialSleep: func(_ context.Context) {}},
+		p2p.RouterOptions{},
 	)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	require.NoError(t, router.Start())
diff --git a/internal/p2p/peermanager.go b/internal/p2p/peermanager.go
index f4213ce6f..52d1cfe9f 100644
--- a/internal/p2p/peermanager.go
+++ b/internal/p2p/peermanager.go
@@ -162,6 +162,10 @@ type PeerManagerOptions struct {
 	// retry times, to avoid thundering herds. 0 disables jitter.
 	RetryTimeJitter time.Duration
 
+	// DisconnectCooldownPeriod is the amount of time after we
+	// disconnect from a peer before we'll consider dialing a new peer
+	DisconnectCooldownPeriod time.Duration
+
 	// PeerScores sets fixed scores for specific peers. It is mainly used
 	// for testing. A score of 0 is ignored.
 	PeerScores map[types.NodeID]PeerScore
@@ -570,6 +574,10 @@ func (m *PeerManager) TryDialNext() NodeAddress {
 			continue
 		}
 
+		if !peer.LastDisconnected.IsZero() && time.Since(peer.LastDisconnected) < m.options.DisconnectCooldownPeriod {
+			continue
+		}
+
 		for _, addressInfo := range peer.AddressInfo {
 			if time.Since(addressInfo.LastDialFailure) < m.retryDelay(addressInfo.DialFailures, peer.Persistent) {
 				continue
@@ -888,6 +896,22 @@ func (m *PeerManager) Disconnected(peerID types.NodeID) {
 	delete(m.evicting, peerID)
 	delete(m.ready, peerID)
 
+	if peer, ok := m.store.Get(peerID); ok {
+		peer.LastDisconnected = time.Now()
+		_ = m.store.Set(peer)
+		// launch a thread to ping the dialWaker when the
+		// disconnected peer can be dialed again.
+		go func() {
+			timer := time.NewTimer(m.options.DisconnectCooldownPeriod)
+			defer timer.Stop()
+			select {
+			case <-timer.C:
+				m.dialWaker.Wake()
+			case <-m.closeCh:
+			}
+		}()
+	}
+
 	if ready {
 		m.broadcast(PeerUpdate{
 			NodeID: peerID,
@@ -1474,9 +1498,10 @@ func (s *peerStore) Size() int {
 
 // peerInfo contains peer information stored in a peerStore.
 type peerInfo struct {
-	ID            types.NodeID
-	AddressInfo   map[NodeAddress]*peerAddressInfo
-	LastConnected time.Time
+	ID               types.NodeID
+	AddressInfo      map[NodeAddress]*peerAddressInfo
+	LastConnected    time.Time
+	LastDisconnected time.Time
 
 	// These fields are ephemeral, i.e. not persisted to the database.
 	Persistent bool
@@ -1516,8 +1541,8 @@ func peerInfoFromProto(msg *p2pproto.PeerInfo) (*peerInfo, error) {
 func (p *peerInfo) ToProto() *p2pproto.PeerInfo {
 	msg := &p2pproto.PeerInfo{
 		ID:            string(p.ID),
-		LastConnected: &p.LastConnected,
 		Inactive:      p.Inactive,
+		LastConnected: &p.LastConnected,
 	}
 	for _, addressInfo := range p.AddressInfo {
 		msg.AddressInfo = append(msg.AddressInfo, addressInfo.ToProto())
@@ -1525,6 +1550,7 @@ func (p *peerInfo) ToProto() *p2pproto.PeerInfo {
 	if msg.LastConnected.IsZero() {
 		msg.LastConnected = nil
 	}
+
 	return msg
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/p2p/router.go b/internal/p2p/router.go
index 3e52f4c05..6b056ae53 100644
--- a/internal/p2p/router.go
+++ b/internal/p2p/router.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"math/rand"
 	"net"
 	"runtime"
 	"sync"
@@ -160,12 +159,6 @@ type RouterOptions struct {
 	// return an error to reject the peer.
 	FilterPeerByID func(context.Context, types.NodeID) error
 
-	// DialSleep controls the amount of time that the router
-	// sleeps between dialing peers. If not set, a default value
-	// is used that sleeps for a (random) amount of time up to 3
-	// seconds between submitting each peer to be dialed.
-	DialSleep func(context.Context)
-
 	// NumConcrruentDials controls how many parallel go routines
 	// are used to dial peers. This defaults to the value of
 	// runtime.NumCPU.
@@ -554,30 +547,6 @@ func (r *Router) filterPeersID(ctx context.Context, id types.NodeID) error {
 	return r.options.FilterPeerByID(ctx, id)
 }
 
-func (r *Router) dialSleep(ctx context.Context) {
-	if r.options.DialSleep == nil {
-		const (
-			maxDialerInterval = 500
-			minDialerInterval = 100
-		)
-
-		// nolint:gosec // G404: Use of weak random number generator
-		dur := time.Duration(rand.Int63n(maxDialerInterval-minDialerInterval+1) + minDialerInterval)
-
-		timer := time.NewTimer(dur * time.Millisecond)
-		defer timer.Stop()
-
-		select {
-		case <-ctx.Done():
-		case <-timer.C:
-		}
-
-		return
-	}
-
-	r.options.DialSleep(ctx)
-}
-
 // acceptPeers accepts inbound connections from peers on the given transport,
 // and spawns goroutines that route messages to/from them.
 func (r *Router) acceptPeers(transport Transport) {
@@ -705,11 +674,6 @@ LOOP:
 
 		select {
 		case addresses <- address:
-			// this jitters the frequency that we call
-			// DialNext and prevents us from attempting to
-			// create connections too quickly.
-
-			r.dialSleep(ctx)
 			continue LOOP
 		case <-ctx.Done():
 			close(addresses)
diff --git a/internal/p2p/router_test.go b/internal/p2p/router_test.go
index 317750d03..8bdc21cbb 100644
--- a/internal/p2p/router_test.go
+++ b/internal/p2p/router_test.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package p2p_test
 
 import (
-	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
@@ -664,7 +663,6 @@ func TestRouter_DialPeers_Parallel(t *testing.T) {
 		peerManager,
 		[]p2p.Transport{mockTransport},
 		p2p.RouterOptions{
-			DialSleep: func(_ context.Context) {},
 			NumConcurrentDials: func() int {
 				ncpu := runtime.NumCPU()
 				if ncpu <= 3 {
diff --git a/node/setup.go b/node/setup.go
index 28a61a0d4..26a07e9ef 100644
--- a/node/setup.go
+++ b/node/setup.go
@@ -504,17 +504,18 @@ func createPeerManager(
 	const maxUpgradeConns = 4
 
 	options := p2p.PeerManagerOptions{
-		SelfAddress:            selfAddr,
-		MaxConnected:           maxConns,
-		MaxOutgoingConnections: maxOutgoingConns,
-		MaxConnectedUpgrade:    maxUpgradeConns,
-		MaxPeers:               maxUpgradeConns + 4*maxConns,
-		MinRetryTime:           250 * time.Millisecond,
-		MaxRetryTime:           30 * time.Minute,
-		MaxRetryTimePersistent: 5 * time.Minute,
-		RetryTimeJitter:        5 * time.Second,
-		PrivatePeers:           privatePeerIDs,
-		Metrics:                metrics,
+		SelfAddress:              selfAddr,
+		MaxConnected:             maxConns,
+		MaxOutgoingConnections:   maxOutgoingConns,
+		MaxConnectedUpgrade:      maxUpgradeConns,
+		DisconnectCooldownPeriod: 2 * time.Second,
+		MaxPeers:                 maxUpgradeConns + 4*maxConns,
+		MinRetryTime:             250 * time.Millisecond,
+		MaxRetryTime:             30 * time.Minute,
+		MaxRetryTimePersistent:   5 * time.Minute,
+		RetryTimeJitter:          5 * time.Second,
+		PrivatePeers:             privatePeerIDs,
+		Metrics:                  metrics,
 	}
 
 	peers := []p2p.NodeAddress{}