diff --git a/python2/httplib2/__init__.py b/python2/httplib2/__init__.py
index 19e7cff..f0d17a1 100644
--- a/python2/httplib2/__init__.py
+++ b/python2/httplib2/__init__.py
@@ -1285,8 +1285,9 @@
                     err = getattr(e, 'args')[0]
                 else:
                     err = e.errno
-                if err == errno.ECONNREFUSED: # Connection refused
-                    raise
+                if err in (errno.ENETUNREACH, errno.EADDRNOTAVAIL) and i < RETRIES:
+                    continue  # retry on potentially transient socket errors
+                raise
             except httplib.HTTPException:
                 # Just because the server closed the connection doesn't apparently mean
                 # that the server didn't send a response.
diff --git a/python3/httplib2/__init__.py b/python3/httplib2/__init__.py
index 260fa6b..ad5cc7f 100644
--- a/python3/httplib2/__init__.py
+++ b/python3/httplib2/__init__.py
@@ -994,8 +994,9 @@
                 raise ServerNotFoundError("Unable to find the server at %s" % conn.host)
             except socket.error as e:
                 errno_ = (e.args[0].errno if isinstance(e.args[0], socket.error) else e.errno)
-                if errno_ == errno.ECONNREFUSED: # Connection refused
-                    raise
+                if errno_ in (errno.ENETUNREACH, errno.EADDRNOTAVAIL) and i < RETRIES:
+                    continue  # retry on potentially transient errors
+                raise
             except http.client.HTTPException:
                 if conn.sock is None:
                     if i < RETRIES-1: