diff --git a/BackupPC_archiveHost_s3 b/BackupPC_archiveHost_s3
index 85d2645..a7241a3 100755
--- a/BackupPC_archiveHost_s3
+++ b/BackupPC_archiveHost_s3
@@ -119,8 +119,9 @@ class SlowFile:
             time.sleep(sleepfor)
         else:
             # we're late; something got slow.
-            self.delayfactor += 0.5
-            logger.debug('%.2f seconds late (congestion?); setting delayfactor to %.2f' % (starttime - self.lastblocktargettime, self.delayfactor))
+            lateness = starttime - self.lastblocktargettime
+            self.delayfactor += lateness
+            logger.debug('%.2f seconds late (congestion?); setting delayfactor to %.2f' % (lateness, self.delayfactor))
 
         targetspeed = self.speed/float(self.delayfactor)
         self.lastblocktargettime = time.time() + len/float(targetspeed)
@@ -128,7 +129,7 @@ class SlowFile:
         if time.time() > self.lastdebug+300:
             if self.delayfactor > 1:
                 # reduce the penalty a bit
-                self.delayfactor = self.delayfactor / 2.0
+                self.delayfactor -= 0.1
 
             if self.delayfactor < 1:
                 self.delayfactor = 1
@@ -317,7 +318,7 @@ for i in sorted(glob.glob(fileglob)):
             key.set_acl('private')
             key.close()
             retry_count = max_retries+1
-        except boto.exception.S3ResponseError, socket.error as e:
+        except (boto.exception.S3ResponseError, socket.error) as e:
             retry_count += 1
             sleeptime = 2**retry_count
             err = 'Encountered exception %s, retrying in %i seconds (%i/%i)' % (e, sleeptime, retry_count, max_retries)