diff --git a/test/spdkcli/tcp.sh b/test/spdkcli/tcp.sh
index a9b6237cd..13c0fbff9 100755
--- a/test/spdkcli/tcp.sh
+++ b/test/spdkcli/tcp.sh
@@ -12,44 +12,6 @@ function err_cleanup() {
 	killprocess $spdk_tgt_pid
 }
 
-function waitfortcplisten() {
-	# $1 = process pid
-	if [ -z "$1" ]; then
-		exit 1
-	fi
-
-	local ipaddr=$2
-	local port=$3
-
-	echo "Waiting for process to start up and listen on TCP/IP Socket $ipaddr:$port..."
-	# turn off trace for this loop
-	xtrace_disable
-	local ret=0
-	local i
-	for ((i = 40; i != 0; i--)); do
-		# if the process is no longer running, then exit the script
-		#  since it means the application crashed
-		if ! kill -s 0 $1; then
-			echo "ERROR: process (pid: $1) is no longer running"
-			ret=1
-			break
-		fi
-
-		if $rootdir/scripts/rpc.py -t 1 -s "$ipaddr" -p $port rpc_get_methods &> /dev/null; then
-			break
-		fi
-
-		sleep 0.5
-	done
-
-	xtrace_restore
-	if ((i == 0)); then
-		echo "ERROR: timeout while waiting for process (pid: $1) to start listening on '$ipaddr:$port'"
-		ret=1
-	fi
-	return $ret
-}
-
 IP_ADDRESS="127.0.0.1"
 PORT="9998"
 
@@ -65,8 +27,7 @@ waitforlisten $spdk_tgt_pid
 socat TCP-LISTEN:$PORT UNIX-CONNECT:$DEFAULT_RPC_ADDR &
 socat_pid=$!
 
-# This will issue a rpc request to the spdk target thus validating tcp
-waitfortcplisten $spdk_tgt_pid $IP_ADDRESS $PORT
+$rootdir/scripts/rpc.py -r 100 -t 2 -s $IP_ADDRESS -p $PORT rpc_get_methods
 
 timing_exit run_spdk_tgt_tcp