diff --git a/_modules/maas_client.py b/_modules/maas_client.py
index 97aeb8b..061dcfa 100644
--- a/_modules/maas_client.py
+++ b/_modules/maas_client.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
     absolute_import,
     print_function,
     unicode_literals,
-    )
+)
 
 str = None
 
@@ -16,9 +16,11 @@
     'MAASClient',
     'MAASDispatcher',
     'MAASOAuth',
-    ]
+]
 
 import gzip
+import time
+from functools import wraps
 from io import BytesIO
 import urllib2
 
@@ -28,6 +30,51 @@
 import oauth.oauth as oauth
 
 
+def retry(ExceptionToCheck, tries=4, delay=3, backoff=2, logger=None):
+    """Retry calling the decorated function using an exponential backoff.
+
+    http://www.saltycrane.com/blog/2009/11/trying-out-retry-decorator-python/
+    original from: http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonDecoratorLibrary#Retry
+
+    :param ExceptionToCheck: the exception to check. may be a tuple of
+        exceptions to check
+    :type ExceptionToCheck: Exception or tuple
+    :param tries: number of times to try (not retry) before giving up
+    :type tries: int
+    :param delay: initial delay between retries in seconds
+    :type delay: int
+    :param backoff: backoff multiplier e.g. value of 2 will double the delay
+        each retry
+    :type backoff: int
+    :param logger: logger to use. If None, print
+    :type logger: logging.Logger instance
+    """
+
+    def deco_retry(f):
+
+        @wraps(f)
+        def f_retry(*args, **kwargs):
+            mtries, mdelay = tries, delay
+            while mtries > 1:
+                try:
+                    return f(*args, **kwargs)
+                except ExceptionToCheck, e:
+                    msg = "%s, Retrying in %d seconds..." % (str(e), mdelay)
+                    if logger:
+                        logger.warning(msg)
+                    else:
+                        print
+                        msg
+                    time.sleep(mdelay)
+                    mtries -= 1
+                    mdelay *= backoff
+            return f(*args, **kwargs)
+
+        return f_retry  # true decorator
+
+    return deco_retry
+
+
 class MAASOAuth:
     """Helper class to OAuth-sign an HTTP request."""
 
@@ -67,6 +114,7 @@
 
 class RequestWithMethod(urllib2.Request):
     """Enhances urllib2.Request so an http method can be supplied."""
+
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         self._method = kwargs.pop('method', None)
         urllib2.Request.__init__(self, *args, **kwargs)
@@ -85,6 +133,7 @@
     provider in Juju for the code this would require.
     """
 
+    @retry(urllib2.URLError, tries=2, delay=5, backoff=2)
     def dispatch_query(self, request_url, headers, method="GET", data=None):
         """Synchronously dispatch an OAuth-signed request to L{request_url}.