diff --git a/src/utils/gcal-source-discoverer.c b/src/utils/gcal-source-discoverer.c
index 53cb0b94..b5bda6a7 100644
--- a/src/utils/gcal-source-discoverer.c
+++ b/src/utils/gcal-source-discoverer.c
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ discover_file_in_thread (DiscovererData  *data,
   uri_str = g_uri_to_string_partial (guri, G_URI_HIDE_PASSWORD);
   GCAL_TRACE_MSG ("Creating request for %s", uri_str);
 
-  session = soup_session_new_with_options ("timeout", 10, NULL);
+  session = gcal_create_soup_session ();
 
   message = soup_message_new_from_uri ("GET", guri);
   g_signal_connect (message, "authenticate", G_CALLBACK (on_soup_message_authenticate_cb), data);
diff --git a/src/utils/gcal-utils.c b/src/utils/gcal-utils.c
index 89b06392..d2721b51 100644
--- a/src/utils/gcal-utils.c
+++ b/src/utils/gcal-utils.c
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 
 #include <libecal/libecal.h>
 #include <libedataserver/libedataserver.h>
+#include <libsoup/soup.h>
 
 #include <glib/gi18n.h>
 
@@ -1329,3 +1330,29 @@ gcal_get_service_name_from_url (const gchar *url)
 
   return NULL;
 }
+
+/**
+ * gcal_create_soup_session:
+ *
+* Creates a new #SoupSession with correct default settings.
+ *
+ * Returns: (transfer full): a new #SoupSession
+ */
+SoupSession *
+gcal_create_soup_session (void)
+{
+  g_autoptr (SoupSession) session = NULL;
+
+  session = soup_session_new ();
+
+  /* Set up a 10 seconds default timeout, as 60 is too long for fail-fast performance in general.
+   * Individual parts of the code can always override this if needed. */
+  soup_session_set_timeout (session, 10);
+
+  /* RFC2616 states HTTP requests "should" contain the User-Agent header. In practice though, in our situation
+   * User-Agent is mandatory, or restrictive "web application firewalls" can do unexpected things with our request.
+   * The trailing " - " lets libsoup append its name and version for us. */
+  soup_session_set_user_agent (session, "GNOME Calendar/" PACKAGE_VERSION " - ");
+
+  return g_steal_pointer (&session);
+}
diff --git a/src/utils/gcal-utils.h b/src/utils/gcal-utils.h
index 8572efc6..721847a2 100644
--- a/src/utils/gcal-utils.h
+++ b/src/utils/gcal-utils.h
@@ -139,4 +139,6 @@ gboolean             gcal_is_valid_event_name                    (const gchar
 
 const gchar*         gcal_get_service_name_from_url              (const gchar        *url);
 
+SoupSession *        gcal_create_soup_session                    (void);
+
 #endif /* __GCAL_UTILS_H__ */
diff --git a/tests/test-server.c b/tests/test-server.c
index ad8382ce..833c7310 100644
--- a/tests/test-server.c
+++ b/tests/test-server.c
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ server_request_no_auth_empty (void)
   server = init_server ();
   uri = gcal_simple_server_get_uri (server);
 
-  session = soup_session_new ();
+  session = gcal_create_soup_session ();
 
   message = soup_message_new_from_uri ("GET", uri);
   g_signal_connect (message, "authenticate", G_CALLBACK (fail_authenticate_cb), server);
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ server_request_no_auth_ics (void)
   uri = gcal_simple_server_get_uri (server);
   e_util_change_uri_component (&uri, SOUP_URI_PATH, "/public/calendar.ics");
 
-  session = soup_session_new ();
+  session = gcal_create_soup_session ();
 
   message = soup_message_new_from_uri ("GET", uri);
   g_signal_connect (message, "authenticate", G_CALLBACK (fail_authenticate_cb), server);
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ server_request_no_auth_calendar (void)
   uri = gcal_simple_server_get_uri (server);
   e_util_change_uri_component (&uri, SOUP_URI_PATH, "/public/calendar");
 
-  session = soup_session_new ();
+  session = gcal_create_soup_session ();
 
   message = soup_message_new_from_uri ("GET", uri);
   g_signal_connect (message, "authenticate", G_CALLBACK (fail_authenticate_cb), server);
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ server_request_auth_empty (void)
   uri = gcal_simple_server_get_uri (server);
   e_util_change_uri_component (&uri, SOUP_URI_PATH, "/secret-area");
 
-  session = soup_session_new ();
+  session = gcal_create_soup_session ();
 
   message = soup_message_new_from_uri ("GET", uri);
   g_signal_connect (message, "authenticate", G_CALLBACK (authenticate_cb), server);
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ server_request_auth_calendar (void)
   uri = gcal_simple_server_get_uri (server);
   e_util_change_uri_component (&uri, SOUP_URI_PATH, "/secret-area/calendar");
 
-  session = soup_session_new ();
+  session = gcal_create_soup_session ();
 
   message = soup_message_new_from_uri ("GET", uri);
   g_signal_connect (message, "authenticate", G_CALLBACK (authenticate_cb), server);
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ server_request_auth_ics (void)
   uri = gcal_simple_server_get_uri (server);
   e_util_change_uri_component (&uri, SOUP_URI_PATH, "/secret-area/calendar.ics");
 
-  session = soup_session_new ();
+  session = gcal_create_soup_session ();
 
   message = soup_message_new_from_uri ("GET", uri);
   g_signal_connect (message, "authenticate", G_CALLBACK (authenticate_cb), server);
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ server_request_auth_wrong (void)
   uri = gcal_simple_server_get_uri (server);
   e_util_change_uri_component (&uri, SOUP_URI_PATH, "/secret-area");
 
-  session = soup_session_new ();
+  session = gcal_create_soup_session ();
 
   message = soup_message_new_from_uri ("GET", uri);
   g_signal_connect (message, "authenticate", G_CALLBACK (wrong_authenticate_cb), server);