diff --git a/docs/bpftune-tcp-conn.rst b/docs/bpftune-tcp-conn.rst
index a3ddb15..b9ad970 100644
--- a/docs/bpftune-tcp-conn.rst
+++ b/docs/bpftune-tcp-conn.rst
@@ -19,6 +19,15 @@ DESCRIPTION
         such cases, BBR is a good fit since it continuously estimates bottleneck
         bandwidth and attempts to fit the congestion algorithm to it.
 
+        When we have limited information about a remote host - i.e. we have
+        not had > REMOTE_HOST_MIN_INSTANCES connections involving it,
+        the only auto-selection involved is to use BBR in cases where
+        loss rates exceed 1/32 of the packet sent rate - in such scenarions,
+        BBR performs much better than other congestion control algorithms.
+
+        For cases where we connect multiple times we can try different
+        algorithms to select the best.
+
         In selecting the appropriate congestion control algorithm, a reinforcement
         reinforcement learning-based method is used whereby we choose the
         congestion control algorithm that best fits the optimal bandwidth
diff --git a/src/tcp_conn_tuner.bpf.c b/src/tcp_conn_tuner.bpf.c
index 3dc8974..be29d6e 100644
--- a/src/tcp_conn_tuner.bpf.c
+++ b/src/tcp_conn_tuner.bpf.c
@@ -21,32 +21,44 @@
 
 #include "tcp_conn_tuner.h"
 
+__u64 tcp_cong_choices[NUM_TCP_CONG_ALGS];
+
 BPF_MAP_DEF(remote_host_map, BPF_MAP_TYPE_HASH, struct in6_addr, struct remote_host, 1024, 0);
 
 BPF_MAP_DEF(sk_storage_map, BPF_MAP_TYPE_SK_STORAGE, int, __u64, 0, BPF_F_NO_PREALLOC);
 
-static __always_inline struct remote_host *get_remote_host(struct in6_addr *key)
+/* if we have not looked up the host >= REMOTE_HOST_MIN_INSTANCES, return NULL. 
+ * This ensures we only apply RL to hosts with which we have multiple
+ * interactions.
+ */
+static __always_inline struct remote_host *get_remote_host(struct in6_addr *key,
+							   bool initial)
 {
 	struct remote_host *remote_host = NULL;
 
 	remote_host = bpf_map_lookup_elem(&remote_host_map, key);
-        if (!remote_host) {
-		struct remote_host new_remote_host = {};
+	if (!remote_host) {
+		struct remote_host new_remote_host = { .instances = 1};
 
 		bpf_map_update_elem(&remote_host_map, key, &new_remote_host,
 				    BPF_ANY);
-		remote_host = bpf_map_lookup_elem(&remote_host_map, key);
-        }
+		return NULL;
+	}
+	/* bump for initial conn established */
+	if (initial)
+		remote_host->instances++;
+	if (remote_host->instances < REMOTE_HOST_MIN_INSTANCES)
+		return NULL;
 	return remote_host;
 }
 
-static __always_inline void set_cong(struct bpf_sock_ops *ops, struct remote_host *remote_host,
-				     __u8 i)
+static __always_inline void set_cong(struct bpf_sock_ops *ops, __u8 i)
 {
 	int ret;
 
 	ret = bpf_setsockopt(ops, SOL_TCP, TCP_CONGESTION, (void *)congs[i],
 			     sizeof(congs[i]));
+	tcp_cong_choices[i & (NUM_TCP_CONG_ALGS - 1)]++;
 	/* update state */
 	if (!ret) {
 		struct bpf_sock *sk = ops->sk;
@@ -64,14 +76,14 @@ static __always_inline void set_cong(struct bpf_sock_ops *ops, struct remote_hos
 SEC("sockops")
 int conn_tuner_sockops(struct bpf_sock_ops *ops)
 {
-	int cb_flags = BPF_SOCK_OPS_STATE_CB_FLAG;
+	int cb_flags = BPF_SOCK_OPS_STATE_CB_FLAG|BPF_SOCK_OPS_RETRANS_CB_FLAG;
 	struct remote_host *remote_host;
 	struct bpftune_event event = {};
 	struct tcp_conn_event_data *event_data = (struct tcp_conn_event_data *)&event.raw_data;
 	struct in6_addr *key = &event_data->raddr;
 	struct bpf_sock *sk = ops->sk;
-	struct tcp_sock *tp = NULL;
 	__u64 *statep = NULL;
+	bool initial = false;
 	int state;
 
 	switch (ops->op) {
@@ -79,7 +91,24 @@ int conn_tuner_sockops(struct bpf_sock_ops *ops)
 	case BPF_SOCK_OPS_PASSIVE_ESTABLISHED_CB:
 		/* enable other needed events */
 		bpf_sock_ops_cb_flags_set(ops, cb_flags);
+		initial = true;
 		break;
+	case BPF_SOCK_OPS_RETRANS_CB:
+		/* set individual cong algorithm to BBR if retransmit rate
+		 * is > 1/32 of packets out.
+		 */
+		if (ops->total_retrans > (ops->segs_out >> DROP_SHIFT)) {
+			if (sk) {
+				statep = bpf_sk_storage_get(&sk_storage_map, sk,
+							    0, 0);
+			}
+			if (!statep || *statep != TCP_STATE_CONG_BBR) {
+				set_cong(ops, TCP_STATE_CONG_BBR);
+				/* no more need for retrans events... */
+				bpf_sock_ops_cb_flags_set(ops, BPF_SOCK_OPS_STATE_CB_FLAG);
+			}
+		}
+		return 1;
 	case BPF_SOCK_OPS_STATE_CB:
 		state = ops->args[1];
 		switch (state) {
@@ -91,14 +120,6 @@ int conn_tuner_sockops(struct bpf_sock_ops *ops)
 		default:
 			return 1;
 		}
-		tp = bpf_skc_to_tcp_sock(sk);
-		if (!tp)
-			return 1;
-
-		/* retrieve state indicating which cong alg was set */
-		statep = bpf_sk_storage_get(&sk_storage_map, sk, 0, 0);
-		if (!statep)
-			return 1;
 		break;
 	default:
 		return 1;
@@ -117,7 +138,8 @@ int conn_tuner_sockops(struct bpf_sock_ops *ops)
 	default:
 		return 1;
 	}
-	remote_host = get_remote_host(key);
+	remote_host = get_remote_host(key, initial);
+	/* no RL unless seen a number of times... */
 	if (!remote_host)
 		return 1;
 
@@ -170,7 +192,7 @@ int conn_tuner_sockops(struct bpf_sock_ops *ops)
 		s = epsilon_greedy(minindex, NUM_TCP_CONN_METRICS, 20);
 		s &= 0x3;
 
-		set_cong(ops, remote_host, s);
+		set_cong(ops, s);
 
 		return 1;
 	}
@@ -178,12 +200,22 @@ int conn_tuner_sockops(struct bpf_sock_ops *ops)
 		/* update metric/send metric event on connection close. */
 		__u64 metric, metric_old, min_rtt, rate_interval_us, rate_delivered, mss;
 		struct tcp_conn_metric *m;
-		__u8 i, s = *statep & 0x3;
+		struct tcp_sock *tp;
 		bool greedy = true;
+		__u8 i, s;
 
+		if (!sk)
+			return 1;
+		if (!remote_host)
+			return 1;
+		/* retrieve state indicating which cong alg was set */
+		statep = bpf_sk_storage_get(&sk_storage_map, sk, 0, 0);
+		if (!statep)
+			return 1;
+		s = *statep & 0x3;
+		tp = bpf_skc_to_tcp_sock(sk);
 		if (!tp)
 			return 1;
-
 		min_rtt = (__u64)tp->rtt_min.s[0].v;
 		rate_interval_us = (__u64)tp->rate_interval_us;
 		rate_delivered = (__u64)tp->rate_delivered;
diff --git a/src/tcp_conn_tuner.c b/src/tcp_conn_tuner.c
index 0eba2f7..9aae83b 100644
--- a/src/tcp_conn_tuner.c
+++ b/src/tcp_conn_tuner.c
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@
 #include "tcp_conn_tuner.skel.nobtf.h"
 
 static struct bpftunable_desc descs[] = {
-{ 
- TCP_CONG, BPFTUNABLE_OTHER, "TCP congestion control", 0, 0 },
+ 
+{ TCP_CONG, BPFTUNABLE_OTHER, "TCP congestion control", 0, 0 },
 };
 
 static struct bpftunable_scenario scenarios[] = {
@@ -90,11 +90,23 @@ static void summarize_conn_choices(struct bpftuner *tuner)
 	struct in6_addr key, *prev_key = NULL;
 	int map_fd = bpf_map__fd(map);
 	unsigned long greedy_count = 0;
-
+	__u64 *cong_choices;
+	int i;
+
+	cong_choices = bpftuner_bpf_var_get(tcp_conn, tuner, tcp_cong_choices);
+	if (cong_choices) {
+		bpftune_log(BPFTUNE_LOG_LEVEL,
+			    "Summary: tcp_conn_tuner: %20s %20s\n",
+			    "CongAlg", "Count");
+		for (i = 0; i < NUM_TCP_CONG_ALGS; i++) {
+			bpftune_log(BPFTUNE_LOG_LEVEL,
+				    "Summary: tcp_conn_tuner: %20s %20lu\n",
+				    congs[i], cong_choices[i]);
+		}
+	}
 	while (!bpf_map_get_next_key(map_fd, prev_key, &key)) {
 		char buf[INET6_ADDRSTRLEN];
 		struct remote_host r;
-		int i;
 
 		prev_key = &key;
 
diff --git a/src/tcp_conn_tuner.h b/src/tcp_conn_tuner.h
index b2e7857..015d0ba 100644
--- a/src/tcp_conn_tuner.h
+++ b/src/tcp_conn_tuner.h
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ enum tcp_cong_tunables {
 };
 
 enum tcp_cong_scenarios {
-	TCP_CONG_SET
+	TCP_CONG_SET,
 };
 
 #define CONG_MAXNAME	16
@@ -67,9 +67,18 @@ struct tcp_conn_event_data {
 struct remote_host {
 	__u64 min_rtt;
 	__u64 max_rate_delivered;
+	__u64 instances;
 	struct tcp_conn_metric metrics[NUM_TCP_CONN_METRICS];
 };
 
+/* collect per-conn data once we see > REMOTE_HOST_MIN_INSTANCES */
+#define REMOTE_HOST_MIN_INSTANCES	4
+
+/* if total retrans/segs_out > 1(2^DROP_SHIFT) (1/32 by default)
+ * apply BBR congestion control.
+ */
+#define DROP_SHIFT	5
+
 #define RTT_SCALE       1000000
 #define DELIVERY_SCALE  1000000
 
diff --git a/test/Makefile b/test/Makefile
index dc56d32..bce33b7 100644
--- a/test/Makefile
+++ b/test/Makefile
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ TUNER_TESTS =	support_test log_test service_test inotify_test cap_test \
 		podman_globalonly_test podman_globalonly_legacy_test \
 		sysctl_test sysctl_legacy_test sysctl_netns_test \
 		netns_test netns_legacy_test \
+		file_download_test file_download_legacy_test \
 		budget_test \
 		backlog_test backlog_legacy_test \
 		frag_test frag_legacy_test \
diff --git a/test/file_download_legacy_test.sh b/test/file_download_legacy_test.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..81e3db3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/file_download_legacy_test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+#!/usr/bin/bash
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 WITH Linux-syscall-note
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
+# License v2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+# General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
+# License along with this program; if not, write to the
+# Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
+# Boston, MA 021110-1307, USA.
+#
+
+# download file via wget with various drop/latencies; bbr should
+# be used when drops >= 2%
+
+. ./test_lib.sh
+
+LOGFILE=$TESTLOG_LAST
+
+SLEEPTIME=1
+TIMEOUT=30
+MAX_CONN=50
+
+for DROP_PERCENT in 2 0; do
+for LATENCY in "" "delay 100" ; do
+for NS in nonglobal global; do
+ for FAMILY in ipv4 ipv6 ; do
+   
+   case $FAMILY in
+   ipv4)
+	if [[ $NS == "global" ]]; then
+   	   ADDR=$VETH2_IPV4
+	else
+	   ADDR=$VETH1_IPV4
+	fi
+	WGET_ARG=""
+	WGET_ADDR=$ADDR
+	HTTP_BIND_ADDR=""
+	;;
+   ipv6)
+	pyversion=$(python3 --version | awk -F '.' '{ print $2 }')
+	# http.server supports IPv6 for 3.8 and later.
+	if [[ $pyversion -lt 8 ]]; then
+		echo "IPv6 test needs python 3.8 or later, skipping"
+		continue
+	fi
+	if [[ $NS == "global" ]]; then
+	   ADDR=$VETH2_IPV6
+	else
+	   ADDR=$VETH1_IPV6
+	fi
+	WGET_ARG="-6"
+	WGET_ADDR="[${ADDR}]"
+	HTTP_BIND_ADDR="--bind $ADDR"
+	;;
+   esac
+
+   test_start "$0|file legacy test to $ADDR:$PORT $FAMILY $NS drop $DROP_PERCENT $LATENCY"
+
+   if [[ $DROP_PERCENT -gt 0 ]]; then
+        DROP=$DROP_PERCENT
+   fi
+
+   if [[ $NS == "global" ]]; then
+	 CLIENT_PREFIX="ip netns exec $NETNS"
+	 CLIENT_VETH=$VETH1
+	 SERVER_PREFIX=""
+	 SERVER_VETH=$VETH2
+   else
+	 CLIENT_PREFIX=""
+	 CLIENT_VETH=$VETH2
+	 SERVER_PREFIX="ip netns exec $NETNS"
+	 SERVER_VETH=$VETH1
+   fi
+   test_setup true
+   mkdir -p $SERVERDIR
+   dd if=/dev/zero of=${SERVERFILE} bs=$SERVERFILE_SIZE  count=1
+
+   set +e
+   FIREWALLD_PID=$(pgrep firewalld)
+   set -e
+   if [[ -n "$FIREWALLD_PID" ]]; then
+      service firewalld stop
+   fi
+   for MODE in baseline test ; do
+
+	echo "Running ${MODE}..."
+	if [[ $MODE != "baseline" ]]; then
+		test_run_cmd_local "$BPFTUNE -sL &" true
+		sleep $SETUPTIME
+	else
+		LOGSZ=$(wc -l $LOGFILE | awk '{print $1}')
+		LOGSZ=$(expr $LOGSZ + 1)
+	fi
+	pushd $SERVERDIR	
+	test_run_cmd_local "$SERVER_PREFIX python3 -m http.server $HTTP_BIND_ADDR $PORT &" true
+	sleep $SLEEPTIME
+	$CLIENT_PREFIX wget $WGET_ARG http://${WGET_ADDR}:${PORT}/file
+	popd
+	rm -f ${SERVERFILE}.1
+	if [[ $MODE != "baseline" ]]; then
+	    pkill -TERM bpftune
+	    sleep $SETUPTIME
+	    tail -n +${LOGSZ} $LOGFILE | grep bbr
+	else
+	    sleep $SLEEPTIME
+	fi
+   done
+   if [[ -n "$FIREWALLD_PID" ]]; then
+      service firewalld start
+   fi
+   test_pass	
+   test_cleanup
+ done
+done
+done
+done
+
+test_exit
diff --git a/test/file_download_test.sh b/test/file_download_test.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca33a04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/file_download_test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+#!/usr/bin/bash
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 WITH Linux-syscall-note
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
+# License v2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+# General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
+# License along with this program; if not, write to the
+# Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
+# Boston, MA 021110-1307, USA.
+#
+
+# download file via wget with various drop/latencies; bbr should
+# be used when drops >= 2%
+
+. ./test_lib.sh
+
+LOGFILE=$TESTLOG_LAST
+
+SLEEPTIME=1
+TIMEOUT=30
+MAX_CONN=50
+
+for DROP_PERCENT in 2 0; do
+for LATENCY in "" "delay 100" ; do
+for NS in nonglobal global; do
+ for FAMILY in ipv4 ipv6 ; do
+   
+   case $FAMILY in
+   ipv4)
+	if [[ $NS == "global" ]]; then
+   	   ADDR=$VETH2_IPV4
+	else
+	   ADDR=$VETH1_IPV4
+	fi
+	WGET_ARG=""
+	WGET_ADDR=$ADDR
+	HTTP_BIND_ADDR=""
+	;;
+   ipv6)
+	pyversion=$(python3 --version | awk -F '.' '{ print $2 }')
+	# http.server supports IPv6 for 3.8 and later.
+	if [[ $pyversion -lt 8 ]]; then
+		echo "IPv6 test needs python 3.8 or later, skipping"
+		continue
+	fi
+	if [[ $NS == "global" ]]; then
+	   ADDR=$VETH2_IPV6
+	else
+	   ADDR=$VETH1_IPV6
+	fi
+	WGET_ARG="-6"
+	WGET_ADDR="[${ADDR}]"
+	HTTP_BIND_ADDR="--bind $ADDR"
+	;;
+   esac
+
+   test_start "$0|file test to $ADDR:$PORT $FAMILY $NS drop $DROP_PERCENT $LATENCY"
+
+   if [[ $DROP_PERCENT -gt 0 ]]; then
+        DROP=$DROP_PERCENT
+   fi
+
+   if [[ $NS == "global" ]]; then
+	 CLIENT_PREFIX="ip netns exec $NETNS"
+	 CLIENT_VETH=$VETH1
+	 SERVER_PREFIX=""
+	 SERVER_VETH=$VETH2
+   else
+	 CLIENT_PREFIX=""
+	 CLIENT_VETH=$VETH2
+	 SERVER_PREFIX="ip netns exec $NETNS"
+	 SERVER_VETH=$VETH1
+   fi
+   test_setup true
+   mkdir -p $SERVERDIR
+   dd if=/dev/zero of=${SERVERFILE} bs=$SERVERFILE_SIZE  count=1
+
+   set +e
+   FIREWALLD_PID=$(pgrep firewalld)
+   set -e
+   if [[ -n "$FIREWALLD_PID" ]]; then
+      service firewalld stop
+   fi
+   for MODE in baseline test ; do
+
+	echo "Running ${MODE}..."
+	if [[ $MODE != "baseline" ]]; then
+		test_run_cmd_local "$BPFTUNE -s &" true
+		sleep $SETUPTIME
+	else
+		LOGSZ=$(wc -l $LOGFILE | awk '{print $1}')
+		LOGSZ=$(expr $LOGSZ + 1)
+	fi
+	pushd $SERVERDIR	
+	test_run_cmd_local "$SERVER_PREFIX python3 -m http.server $HTTP_BIND_ADDR $PORT &" true
+	sleep $SLEEPTIME
+	$CLIENT_PREFIX wget $WGET_ARG http://${WGET_ADDR}:${PORT}/file
+	popd
+	rm -f ${SERVERFILE}.1
+	if [[ $MODE != "baseline" ]]; then
+	    pkill -TERM bpftune
+	    sleep $SETUPTIME
+	    tail -n +${LOGSZ} $LOGFILE | grep bbr
+	else
+	    sleep $SLEEPTIME
+	fi
+   done
+   if [[ -n "$FIREWALLD_PID" ]]; then
+      service firewalld start
+   fi
+   test_pass	
+   test_cleanup
+ done
+done
+done
+done
+
+test_exit
diff --git a/test/test_lib.sh b/test/test_lib.sh
index 8ecfa2b..453ad3d 100644
--- a/test/test_lib.sh
+++ b/test/test_lib.sh
@@ -70,6 +70,10 @@ export LOGFILE=$SYSLOGFILE
 export BPFTUNE_LEGACY=${BPFTUNE_LEGACY:-0}
 export BPFTUNE_NETNS=${BPFTUNE_NETNS:-1}
 
+export SERVERDIR=${TESTDIR}/https
+export SERVERFILE=${SERVERDIR}/file
+export SERVERFILE_SIZE=500M
+
 export B=$(tput -Tvt100 bold)
 export N=$(tput -Tvt100 sgr0)
 
@@ -293,8 +297,8 @@ test_cleanup_local()
 	ip link del $VETH2 2>/dev/null
 	ip link del bpftunelocal 2>/dev/null
 	sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6=0
+	rm -fr $SERVERDIR
 	set -e
-
 	if [[ ! -f /usr/lib64/bpftune/tcp_buffer_tuner.so ]]; then
 		mv /tmp/tcp_buffer_tuner.so /usr/lib64/bpftune
 	fi