diff --git a/backend/remote-state/consul/backend.go b/backend/remote-state/consul/backend.go
index ce7c2ee1f..d0cfa6ca4 100644
--- a/backend/remote-state/consul/backend.go
+++ b/backend/remote-state/consul/backend.go
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@ package consul
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"net"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 
 	consulapi "github.com/hashicorp/consul/api"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/backend"
@@ -100,6 +102,7 @@ type Backend struct {
 	*schema.Backend
 
 	// The fields below are set from configure
+	client     *consulapi.Client
 	configData *schema.ResourceData
 	lock       bool
 }
@@ -111,16 +114,18 @@ func (b *Backend) configure(ctx context.Context) error {
 	// Store the lock information
 	b.lock = b.configData.Get("lock").(bool)
 
-	// Initialize a client to test config
-	_, err := b.clientRaw()
-	return err
-}
-
-func (b *Backend) clientRaw() (*consulapi.Client, error) {
 	data := b.configData
 
 	// Configure the client
 	config := consulapi.DefaultConfig()
+
+	// replace the default Transport Dialer to reduce the KeepAlive
+
+	config.Transport.DialContext = (&net.Dialer{
+		Timeout:   30 * time.Second,
+		KeepAlive: 17 * time.Second,
+	}).DialContext
+
 	if v, ok := data.GetOk("access_token"); ok && v.(string) != "" {
 		config.Token = v.(string)
 	}
@@ -162,5 +167,11 @@ func (b *Backend) clientRaw() (*consulapi.Client, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	return consulapi.NewClient(config)
+	client, err := consulapi.NewClient(config)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	b.client = client
+	return nil
 }
diff --git a/backend/remote-state/consul/backend_state.go b/backend/remote-state/consul/backend_state.go
index e77729446..8002d9830 100644
--- a/backend/remote-state/consul/backend_state.go
+++ b/backend/remote-state/consul/backend_state.go
@@ -15,15 +15,9 @@ const (
 )
 
 func (b *Backend) States() ([]string, error) {
-	// Get the Consul client
-	client, err := b.clientRaw()
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
 	// List our raw path
 	prefix := b.configData.Get("path").(string) + keyEnvPrefix
-	keys, _, err := client.KV().Keys(prefix, "/", nil)
+	keys, _, err := b.client.KV().Keys(prefix, "/", nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -60,28 +54,16 @@ func (b *Backend) DeleteState(name string) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("can't delete default state")
 	}
 
-	// Get the Consul API client
-	client, err := b.clientRaw()
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
 	// Determine the path of the data
 	path := b.path(name)
 
 	// Delete it. We just delete it without any locking since
 	// the DeleteState API is documented as such.
-	_, err = client.KV().Delete(path, nil)
+	_, err := b.client.KV().Delete(path, nil)
 	return err
 }
 
 func (b *Backend) State(name string) (state.State, error) {
-	// Get the Consul API client
-	client, err := b.clientRaw()
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
 	// Determine the path of the data
 	path := b.path(name)
 
@@ -91,7 +73,7 @@ func (b *Backend) State(name string) (state.State, error) {
 	// Build the state client
 	var stateMgr state.State = &remote.State{
 		Client: &RemoteClient{
-			Client:    client,
+			Client:    b.client,
 			Path:      path,
 			GZip:      gzip,
 			lockState: b.lock,