diff --git a/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_imap_login.sh b/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_imap_login.sh
index 6aecfac..949d34c 100755
--- a/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_imap_login.sh
+++ b/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_imap_login.sh
@@ -7,14 +7,22 @@ t_Log "Running $0 - adding imaptest local user account + attempting IMAP login"
 { userdel -rf imaptest; useradd imaptest && echo imaptest | passwd --stdin imaptest; } &>/dev/null
 
 # creating maildir in HOME, else test will fail at first try
-mkdir -m 700 -p /home/imaptest/mail/.imap/INBOX
+mkdir -m 700 -p /home/imaptest/mail/.imap/INBOX 
 chown -R imaptest:imaptest /home/imaptest/mail
 
 ret_val=1
 
 t_Log "Dovecot IMAP login test"
 
-echo -e "01 LOGIN imaptest imaptest\n" | nc -w 5 localhost 143 | grep -q "Logged in."
+# EL7 comes with nmap-nc , different from nc so different options to use
+
+if [ "$centos_ver" -ge 7 ];then
+ nc_options="-d 3 -w 5"
+else
+ nc_options="-i 3 -w 5"
+fi
+
+echo -e "01 LOGIN imaptest imaptest\n" | nc ${nc_options} localhost 143 | grep -q "Logged in."
 
 ret_val=$?
 
diff --git a/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_pop3_login.sh b/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_pop3_login.sh
index 7e1a8cd..0ce53fc 100755
--- a/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_pop3_login.sh
+++ b/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_pop3_login.sh
@@ -7,12 +7,20 @@ t_Log "Running $0 - adding pop3test local user account + attempting POP3 login"
 { userdel -rf pop3test; useradd pop3test && echo pop3test | passwd --stdin pop3test; } &>/dev/null
 
 # creating maildir in HOME, else test will fail at first try
-mkdir -m 700 -p /home/pop3test/mail/.imap/INBOX
+mkdir -m 700 -p /home/pop3test/mail/.imap/INBOX 
 chown -R pop3test:pop3test /home/pop3test/mail/.imap/INBOX
 
 t_Log "Dovecot POP3 login test"
+# EL7 comes with nmap-nc , different from nc so different options to use
 
-echo -e "user pop3test\npass pop3test\n" | nc -w 5 localhost 110 | grep -q "+OK Logged in."
+if [ "$centos_ver" -ge 7 ];then
+ nc_options="-d 3 -w 5"
+else
+ nc_options="-i 3 -w 5"
+fi
+
+
+echo -e "user pop3test\npass pop3test\n" | nc ${nc_options} localhost 110 | grep -q "+OK Logged in."
 
 t_CheckExitStatus $?