diff --git a/HPN-README b/HPN-README
index d559a565c..1ed9afb77 100644
--- a/HPN-README
+++ b/HPN-README
@@ -5,16 +5,6 @@ Changes in LibreSSL version 3.5 and 3.6 prevent the use of the threaded AES CTR
 In those cases HPNSSH will fallback to the serial versionof the AES CTR cipher. A warning
 is printed to stderr. 
 
-Automatic Port Fallback (in version 17v3)
-The hpnssh client now uses TCP port 2222 to connect automatically as this is the
-default hpnsshd port. However, we understand that many users will be end up connecting
-standard SSH servers on port 22. To make the easier for users the client will fall back to
-port 22 in the event that there is no hpnssh server running on port 2222. The behaviour can
-be modifed as follows:
--oFallback=[yes|no] will enable or disable port fallback. Default is yes.
--oFallbackPort=[N] where N is the port number that should be used for fall back.
-    Default is 22.
-
 TCP_INFO Metrics
 This features allows the client to request tcp networking information from the
 TCP_INFO struct. This includes data on retransmits, round trip time, lost packets,
diff --git a/readconf.c b/readconf.c
index 5f9c04279..b85ec82c7 100644
--- a/readconf.c
+++ b/readconf.c
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ typedef enum {
 	oLocalCommand, oPermitLocalCommand, oRemoteCommand,
 	oTcpRcvBufPoll, oHPNDisabled,
 	oNoneEnabled, oNoneMacEnabled, oNoneSwitch,
-	oMetrics, oMetricsPath, oMetricsInterval, oFallback, oFallbackPort,
+	oMetrics, oMetricsPath, oMetricsInterval,
 	oVisualHostKey,
 	oKexAlgorithms, oIPQoS, oRequestTTY, oSessionType, oStdinNull,
 	oForkAfterAuthentication, oIgnoreUnknown, oProxyUseFdpass,
@@ -309,8 +309,6 @@ static struct {
 	{ "metrics", oMetrics },
 	{ "metricspath", oMetricsPath },
 	{ "metricsinterval", oMetricsInterval },
-	{ "fallback", oFallback },
-	{ "fallbackport", oFallbackPort },
 	{ "sessiontype", oSessionType },
 	{ "stdinnull", oStdinNull },
 	{ "forkafterauthentication", oForkAfterAuthentication },
@@ -531,7 +529,7 @@ default_ssh_port(void)
 
 	if (port == 0) {
 		sp = getservbyname(SSH_SERVICE_NAME, "tcp");
-		port = sp ? ntohs(sp->s_port) : HPNSSH_DEFAULT_PORT;
+		port = sp ? ntohs(sp->s_port) : SSH_DEFAULT_PORT;
 	}
 	return port;
 }
@@ -1187,15 +1185,7 @@ parse_time:
 		options->metrics = 1;
 		goto parse_string;
 
-	case oFallback:
-		intptr = &options->fallback;
-		goto parse_flag;
-
-	case oFallbackPort:
-		intptr = &options->fallback_port;
-		goto parse_int;
-
-	/*
+	 /*
 	 * We check to see if the command comes from the command
 	 * line or not. If it does then enable it otherwise fail.
 	 *  NONE should never be a default configuration.
@@ -2511,8 +2501,6 @@ initialize_options(Options * options)
 	options->metrics_path = NULL;
 	options->metrics_interval = -1;
 	options->hpn_disabled = -1;
-	options->fallback = -1;
-	options->fallback_port = -1;
 	options->tcp_rcv_buf_poll = -1;
 	options->session_type = -1;
 	options->stdin_null = -1;
@@ -2725,10 +2713,6 @@ fill_default_options(Options * options)
 		options->metrics_interval = 5;
 	if (options->control_master == -1)
 		options->control_master = 0;
-	if (options->fallback == -1)
-		options->fallback = 1;
-	if (options->fallback_port == -1)
-		options->fallback_port = SSH_DEFAULT_PORT;
 	if (options->control_persist == -1) {
 		options->control_persist = 0;
 		options->control_persist_timeout = 0;
diff --git a/readconf.h b/readconf.h
index 452751b36..953be98ab 100644
--- a/readconf.h
+++ b/readconf.h
@@ -130,8 +130,6 @@ typedef struct {
         int     metrics; /* enable metrics */
         int     metrics_interval; /* time in seconds between polls */
         char   *metrics_path; /* path for the metrics files */
-	int     fallback; /* en|disable fallback port (def: true) */
-	int     fallback_port; /* port to fallback to (def: 22) */
 	int	rekey_interval;
 
 	int	no_host_authentication_for_localhost;
diff --git a/ssh.c b/ssh.c
index 0543ca971..72b555097 100644
--- a/ssh.c
+++ b/ssh.c
@@ -1563,36 +1563,10 @@ main(int ac, char **av)
 		timeout_ms = options.connection_timeout * 1000;
 
 	/* Open a connection to the remote host. */
-	/* we try initially on the default hpnssh port returned by
-	 * default_ssh_port() which now returns HPNSSH_DEFAULT_PORT
-	 * if that fails we reset the port to SSH_DEFAULT_PORT
-	 * -cjr 8/17/2022
-	 */
-tryagain:
 	if (ssh_connect(ssh, host, options.host_arg, addrs, &hostaddr,
 	    options.port, options.connection_attempts,
-	    &timeout_ms, options.tcp_keep_alive) != 0) {
-		/* could not connect. If the port requested is the same as
-		 * hpnssh default port then fallback. Otherwise, exit */
-		if ((options.port == default_ssh_port()) && options.fallback) {
-			int port = options.fallback_port;
-			options.port = port;
-			fprintf(stderr, "HPNSSH server not available on default port %d\n",
-				default_ssh_port());
-			if (port == 22)
-				fprintf(stderr, "Falling back to OpenSSH default port %d\n",
-					port);
-			else
-				fprintf(stderr, "Falling back to user defined port %d\n",
-					port);
-			addrs = resolve_host(host, port, 1,
-					     cname, sizeof(cname));
-			goto tryagain;
-		} else {
-			exit(255);
-		}
+	    &timeout_ms, options.tcp_keep_alive) != 0)
 		exit(255);
-	}
 
 	if (addrs != NULL)
 		freeaddrinfo(addrs);
diff --git a/ssh.h b/ssh.h
index c63911545..8aa1633a6 100644
--- a/ssh.h
+++ b/ssh.h
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 
 /* Default port number. */
 #define SSH_DEFAULT_PORT	22
-#define HPNSSH_DEFAULT_PORT    2222
 
 /*
  * Maximum number of certificate files that can be specified