diff --git a/communicator/communicator.go b/communicator/communicator.go
index 5fa2631a4..3749a9f98 100644
--- a/communicator/communicator.go
+++ b/communicator/communicator.go
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 package communicator
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"log"
+	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/communicator/remote"
@@ -51,3 +54,93 @@ func New(s *terraform.InstanceState) (Communicator, error) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("connection type '%s' not supported", connType)
 	}
 }
+
+// maxBackoffDealy is the maximum delay between retry attempts
+var maxBackoffDelay = 10 * time.Second
+var initialBackoffDelay = time.Second
+
+type Fatal interface {
+	FatalError() error
+}
+
+func Retry(ctx context.Context, f func() error) error {
+	// container for atomic error value
+	type errWrap struct {
+		E error
+	}
+
+	// Try the function in a goroutine
+	var errVal atomic.Value
+	doneCh := make(chan struct{})
+	go func() {
+		defer close(doneCh)
+
+		delay := time.Duration(0)
+		for {
+			// If our context ended, we want to exit right away.
+			select {
+			case <-ctx.Done():
+				return
+			case <-time.After(delay):
+			}
+
+			// Try the function call
+			err := f()
+
+			// return if we have no error, or a FatalError
+			done := false
+			switch e := err.(type) {
+			case nil:
+				done = true
+			case Fatal:
+				err = e.FatalError()
+				done = true
+			}
+
+			errVal.Store(&errWrap{err})
+
+			if done {
+				return
+			}
+
+			log.Printf("[WARN] retryable error: %v", err)
+
+			delay *= 2
+
+			if delay == 0 {
+				delay = initialBackoffDelay
+			}
+
+			if delay > maxBackoffDelay {
+				delay = maxBackoffDelay
+			}
+
+			log.Printf("[INFO] sleeping for %s", delay)
+		}
+	}()
+
+	// Wait for completion
+	select {
+	case <-ctx.Done():
+	case <-doneCh:
+	}
+
+	var lastErr error
+	// Check if we got an error executing
+	if ev, ok := errVal.Load().(errWrap); ok {
+		lastErr = ev.E
+	}
+
+	// Check if we have a context error to check if we're interrupted or timeout
+	switch ctx.Err() {
+	case context.Canceled:
+		return fmt.Errorf("interrupted - last error: %v", lastErr)
+	case context.DeadlineExceeded:
+		return fmt.Errorf("timeout - last error: %v", lastErr)
+	}
+
+	if lastErr != nil {
+		return lastErr
+	}
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/communicator/communicator_test.go b/communicator/communicator_test.go
index 33a91cd6f..659222421 100644
--- a/communicator/communicator_test.go
+++ b/communicator/communicator_test.go
@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
 package communicator
 
 import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"io"
+	"net"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/terraform"
 )
@@ -28,3 +33,66 @@ func TestCommunicator_new(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("err: %v", err)
 	}
 }
+func TestRetryFunc(t *testing.T) {
+	origMax := maxBackoffDelay
+	maxBackoffDelay = time.Second
+	origStart := initialBackoffDelay
+	initialBackoffDelay = 10 * time.Millisecond
+
+	defer func() {
+		maxBackoffDelay = origMax
+		initialBackoffDelay = origStart
+	}()
+
+	// succeed on the third try
+	errs := []error{io.EOF, &net.OpError{Err: errors.New("ERROR")}, nil}
+	count := 0
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	err := Retry(ctx, func() error {
+		if count >= len(errs) {
+			return errors.New("failed to stop after nil error")
+		}
+
+		err := errs[count]
+		count++
+
+		return err
+	})
+
+	if count != 3 {
+		t.Fatal("retry func should have been called 3 times")
+	}
+
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestRetryFuncBackoff(t *testing.T) {
+	origMax := maxBackoffDelay
+	maxBackoffDelay = time.Second
+	origStart := initialBackoffDelay
+	initialBackoffDelay = 100 * time.Millisecond
+
+	defer func() {
+		maxBackoffDelay = origMax
+		initialBackoffDelay = origStart
+	}()
+
+	count := 0
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	Retry(ctx, func() error {
+		count++
+		return io.EOF
+	})
+
+	if count > 4 {
+		t.Fatalf("retry func failed to backoff. called %d times", count)
+	}
+}