diff --git a/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py b/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py
index 086db41935..9adc7e1352 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py
@@ -743,6 +743,7 @@ class TaskExecutor:
         self._play_context.set_options_from_plugin(connection)
 
         if any(((connection.supports_persistence and C.USE_PERSISTENT_CONNECTIONS), connection.force_persistence)):
+            self._play_context.timeout = C.PERSISTENT_COMMAND_TIMEOUT
             display.vvvv('attempting to start connection', host=self._play_context.remote_addr)
             display.vvvv('using connection plugin %s' % connection.transport, host=self._play_context.remote_addr)
             socket_path = self._start_connection()
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/cliconf/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/cliconf/__init__.py
index 44696ef0d4..0aaca9e47f 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/cliconf/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/cliconf/__init__.py
@@ -106,11 +106,7 @@ class CliconfBase(with_metaclass(ABCMeta, object)):
         if answer is not None:
             kwargs['answer'] = to_bytes(answer)
 
-        if not signal.getsignal(signal.SIGALRM):
-            signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, self._alarm_handler)
-        signal.alarm(self._connection._play_context.timeout)
         resp = self._connection.send(**kwargs)
-        signal.alarm(0)
         return resp
 
     def get_base_rpc(self):