diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 4597a95..c794859 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ setup(
         'pluggy>0.7<1.0',
         'passlib',
         'backoff',
+        'requests',
         'jupyterhub-traefik-proxy==0.1.*'
     ],
     entry_points={
diff --git a/tljh/conda.py b/tljh/conda.py
index 2a30a2b..35d45fc 100644
--- a/tljh/conda.py
+++ b/tljh/conda.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import json
 import hashlib
 import contextlib
 import tempfile
-import urllib.request
+import requests
 from distutils.version import LooseVersion as V
 
 
@@ -50,7 +50,8 @@ def download_miniconda_installer(version, md5sum):
     """
     with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile() as f:
         installer_url = "https://repo.continuum.io/miniconda/Miniconda3-{}-Linux-x86_64.sh".format(version)
-        urllib.request.urlretrieve(installer_url, f.name)
+        with open(f.name, 'wb') as f:
+            f.write(requests.get(installer_url).content)
 
         if md5_file(f.name) != md5sum:
             raise Exception('md5 hash mismatch! Downloaded file corrupted')
diff --git a/tljh/installer.py b/tljh/installer.py
index 91395cf..0e6dee7 100644
--- a/tljh/installer.py
+++ b/tljh/installer.py
@@ -8,10 +8,9 @@ import secrets
 import subprocess
 import sys
 import time
-from urllib.error import HTTPError
-from urllib.request import urlopen, URLError
 
 import pluggy
+import requests
 
 from tljh import (
     apt,
@@ -293,20 +292,20 @@ def ensure_jupyterhub_running(times=20):
     for i in range(times):
         try:
             logger.info('Waiting for JupyterHub to come up ({}/{} tries)'.format(i + 1, times))
-            urlopen('http://127.0.0.1')
+            requests.get('http://127.0.0.1')
             return
-        except HTTPError as h:
-            if h.code in [404, 502, 503]:
+        except requests.HTTPError as h:
+            if h.response.status_code in [404, 502, 503]:
                 # May be transient
                 time.sleep(1)
                 continue
             # Everything else should immediately abort
             raise
-        except URLError as e:
-            if isinstance(e.reason, ConnectionRefusedError):
+        except requests.ConnectionError:
                 # Hub isn't up yet, sleep & loop
                 time.sleep(1)
                 continue
+        except Exception:
             # Everything else should immediately abort
             raise
 
diff --git a/tljh/traefik.py b/tljh/traefik.py
index 4e05b7a..e7bd78d 100644
--- a/tljh/traefik.py
+++ b/tljh/traefik.py
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 """Traefik installation and setup"""
 import hashlib
 import os
-from urllib.request import urlretrieve, ContentTooShortError
 
 from jinja2 import Template
 from passlib.apache import HtpasswdFile
 import backoff
+import requests
 
 from tljh.configurer import load_config
 
@@ -27,11 +27,15 @@ def checksum_file(path):
             hasher.update(chunk)
     return hasher.hexdigest()
 
+def fatal_error(e):
+    # Retry only when connection is reset or we think we didn't download entire file
+    return str(e) != "ContentTooShort" and not isinstance(e, ConnectionResetError)
+
 @backoff.on_exception(
     backoff.expo,
-    # Retry when connection is reset or we think we didn't download entire file
-    (ConnectionResetError, ContentTooShortError),
-    max_tries=2
+    Exception,
+    max_tries=2,
+    giveup=fatal_error
 )
 def ensure_traefik_binary(prefix):
     """Download and install the traefik binary"""
@@ -53,7 +57,11 @@ def ensure_traefik_binary(prefix):
     )
     print(f"Downloading traefik {traefik_version}...")
     # download the file
-    urlretrieve(traefik_url, traefik_bin)
+    response = requests.get(traefik_url)
+    if response.status_code == 206:
+        raise Exception("ContentTooShort")
+    with open(traefik_bin, 'wb') as f:
+        f.write(response.content)
     os.chmod(traefik_bin, 0o755)
 
     # verify that we got what we expected