diff --git a/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_imap_login.sh b/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_imap_login.sh
index 7c88962..b486eca 100755
--- a/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_imap_login.sh
+++ b/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_imap_login.sh
@@ -13,19 +13,17 @@ chown -R imaptest:imaptest /home/imaptest/mail
 ret_val=1
 
 t_Log "Dovecot IMAP login test"
-# after a restart of dovecot this always results with
-# 'imap-login: Disconnected (no auth attempts)' in /var/log/maillog
-# first try will be ignored
-echo -e "01 LOGIN imaptest imaptest\n" | nc -w 5 localhost 143 | grep -q "Logged in."
 
-# and we need some time between login attempts
-sleep 3
+# EL7 comes with nmap-nc , different from nc so different options to use
 
-echo -e "01 LOGIN imaptest imaptest\n" | nc -w 5 localhost 143 | grep -q "Logged in."
-# let's see if a third iteration reduces flakyness of the test
-sleep 3
+if [ "$centos_ver" = "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."
 
-echo -e "01 LOGIN imaptest imaptest\n" | nc -w 5 localhost 143 | grep -q "Logged in."
 ret_val=$?
 
 if [ $ret_val != 0 ]
diff --git a/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_pop3_login.sh b/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_pop3_login.sh
index 4ac3320..a12056e 100755
--- a/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_pop3_login.sh
+++ b/tests/p_dovecot/dovecot_pop3_login.sh
@@ -11,7 +11,16 @@ mkdir -m 700 -p /home/pop3test/mail/.imap/INBOX
 chown -R pop3test:pop3test /home/pop3test/mail/.imap/INBOX
 
 t_Log "Dovecot POP3 login test"
-echo -e "user pop3test\npass pop3test\n" | nc -w 5 localhost 110 | grep -q "+OK Logged in."
+# EL7 comes with nmap-nc , different from nc so different options to use
+
+if [ "$centos_ver" = "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 $?