diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index c03eceb..174e217 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -3788,6 +3788,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "grin_wallet_libwallet",
  "grin_wallet_util",
  "hyper 0.14.28",
+ "hyper-tls 0.5.0",
  "image 0.25.1",
  "jni",
  "lazy_static",
@@ -4677,6 +4678,19 @@ dependencies = [
  "tokio-tls",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "hyper-tls"
+version = "0.5.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d6183ddfa99b85da61a140bea0efc93fdf56ceaa041b37d553518030827f9905"
+dependencies = [
+ "bytes 1.6.0",
+ "hyper 0.14.28",
+ "native-tls",
+ "tokio 1.37.0",
+ "tokio-native-tls",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "i18n-config"
 version = "0.4.6"
@@ -7385,7 +7399,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "http-body 0.3.1",
  "hyper 0.13.10",
  "hyper-rustls 0.21.0",
- "hyper-tls",
+ "hyper-tls 0.4.3",
  "ipnet",
  "js-sys",
  "lazy_static",
@@ -9008,6 +9022,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "syn 2.0.60",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tokio-native-tls"
+version = "0.3.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "bbae76ab933c85776efabc971569dd6119c580d8f5d448769dec1764bf796ef2"
+dependencies = [
+ "native-tls",
+ "tokio 1.37.0",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "tokio-rustls"
 version = "0.13.1"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 3d10cd3..dd07c67 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ sha2 = "0.10.0"
 ed25519-dalek = "2.1.1"
 curve25519-dalek = "4.1.2"
 hyper = { version = "0.14.28", features = ["full"] }
+hyper-tls = "0.5.0"
 tls-api = "0.9.0"
 tls-api-native-tls = "0.9.0"
 
diff --git a/src/wallet/connections/external.rs b/src/wallet/connections/external.rs
index 35e91ee..45400af 100644
--- a/src/wallet/connections/external.rs
+++ b/src/wallet/connections/external.rs
@@ -12,11 +12,10 @@
 // See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 // limitations under the License.
 
-use std::time::Duration;
-
 use serde_derive::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+use tor_rtcompat::BlockOn;
+use tor_rtcompat::tokio::TokioNativeTlsRuntime;
 
-use crate::AppConfig;
 use crate::wallet::ConnectionsConfig;
 
 /// External connection for the wallet.
@@ -38,9 +37,6 @@ impl ExternalConnection {
     /// Default external node URL for main network.
     pub const DEFAULT_MAIN_URL: &'static str = "https://grinnode.live:3413";
 
-    /// External connections availability check delay.
-    const AV_CHECK_DELAY: Duration = Duration::from_millis(60 * 1000);
-
     /// Create default external connection.
     pub fn default_main() -> Self {
         Self { id: 1, url: Self::DEFAULT_MAIN_URL.to_string(), secret: None, available: None }
@@ -57,19 +53,38 @@ impl ExternalConnection {
         // Check every connection at separate thread.
         let conn = self.clone();
         std::thread::spawn(move || {
-            let url = url::Url::parse(conn.url.as_str()).unwrap();
-            if let Ok(addr) = url.socket_addrs(|| None) {
-                match std::net::TcpStream::connect_timeout(&addr[0], Self::AV_CHECK_DELAY) {
-                    Ok(_) => {
-                        ConnectionsConfig::update_ext_conn_availability(conn.id, true);
-                    }
-                    Err(_) => {
-                        ConnectionsConfig::update_ext_conn_availability(conn.id, false);
+            let runtime = TokioNativeTlsRuntime::create().unwrap();
+            runtime.block_on(async {
+                let url = url::Url::parse(conn.url.as_str()).unwrap();
+                if let Ok(_) = url.socket_addrs(|| None) {
+                    let client = hyper::Client::builder()
+                        .build::<_, hyper::Body>(hyper_tls::HttpsConnector::new());
+                    let req = hyper::Request::builder()
+                        .method(hyper::Method::GET)
+                        .uri(format!("{}/v2/owner", url.to_string()))
+                        .body(hyper::Body::from(
+                            r#"{"id":1,"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"get_status","params":{} }"#)
+                        )
+                        .unwrap();
+                    match client.request(req).await {
+                        Ok(res) => {
+                            let status = res.status().as_u16();
+                            // Available on 200 and 401 status code.
+                            if status == 200 || status == 401 {
+                                ConnectionsConfig::update_ext_conn_availability(conn.id, true);
+                            } else {
+                                ConnectionsConfig::update_ext_conn_availability(conn.id, false);
+                            }
+                        }
+                        Err(e) => {
+                            ConnectionsConfig::update_ext_conn_availability(conn.id, false);
+                        }
                     }
+                } else {
+                    ConnectionsConfig::update_ext_conn_availability(conn.id, false);
                 }
-            } else {
-                ConnectionsConfig::update_ext_conn_availability(conn.id, false);
-            }
+            });
+
         });
     }