diff --git a/test/e2e/network/network_policy.go b/test/e2e/network/network_policy.go
index ffb86f3a3b7..071101f4a8b 100644
--- a/test/e2e/network/network_policy.go
+++ b/test/e2e/network/network_policy.go
@@ -560,7 +560,7 @@ func createNetworkClientPod(f *framework.Framework, namespace *v1.Namespace, pod
 					Args: []string{
 						"/bin/sh",
 						"-c",
-						fmt.Sprintf("for i in $(seq 1 5); do wget -q -T 8 %s.%s:%d && exit 0 || sleep 1; done; exit 1",
+						fmt.Sprintf("for i in $(seq 1 5); do nc -vz -w 8 %s.%s %d && exit 0 || sleep 1; done; exit 1",
 							targetService.Name, targetService.Namespace, targetPort),
 					},
 				},