diff --git a/pymongo/asynchronous/helpers.py b/pymongo/asynchronous/helpers.py
index 96241b947c..b29d02ea2c 100644
--- a/pymongo/asynchronous/helpers.py
+++ b/pymongo/asynchronous/helpers.py
@@ -77,8 +77,8 @@ async def inner(*args: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> Any:
     return cast(F, inner)
 
 
-_MAX_RETRIES = 3
-_BACKOFF_INITIAL = 0.05
+_MAX_RETRIES = 5
+_BACKOFF_INITIAL = 0.1
 _BACKOFF_MAX = 10
 # DRIVERS-3240 will determine these defaults.
 DEFAULT_RETRY_TOKEN_CAPACITY = 1000.0
diff --git a/pymongo/synchronous/helpers.py b/pymongo/synchronous/helpers.py
index 72d8978796..2def3a8c14 100644
--- a/pymongo/synchronous/helpers.py
+++ b/pymongo/synchronous/helpers.py
@@ -77,8 +77,8 @@ def inner(*args: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> Any:
     return cast(F, inner)
 
 
-_MAX_RETRIES = 3
-_BACKOFF_INITIAL = 0.05
+_MAX_RETRIES = 5
+_BACKOFF_INITIAL = 0.1
 _BACKOFF_MAX = 10
 # DRIVERS-3240 will determine these defaults.
 DEFAULT_RETRY_TOKEN_CAPACITY = 1000.0