diff --git a/man/NetworkManager.conf.xml b/man/NetworkManager.conf.xml
index f0c3c5c85..446540aa1 100644
--- a/man/NetworkManager.conf.xml
+++ b/man/NetworkManager.conf.xml
@@ -856,6 +856,24 @@ managed=1
             </para>
           </listitem>
         </varlistentry>
+        <varlistentry id="carrier-wait-timeout">
+          <term><varname>carrier-wait-timeout</varname></term>
+          <listitem>
+            <para>
+              Specify the timeout for waiting for carrier in milliseconds.
+              When the device loses carrier, NetworkManager does not react
+              immediately. Instead, it waits for this timeout before considering
+              the link lost. Also, on startup, NetworkManager considers the
+              device as busy for this time, as long as the device has no carrier.
+              This delays startup-complete signal and NetworkManager-wait-online.
+              Configuring this too high means to block NetworkManager-wait-online
+              longer then necessary. Configuring it too low, means that NetworkManager
+              will declare startup-complete, although carrier is about to come
+              and auto-activation to kick in.
+              The default is 5000 milliseconds.
+            </para>
+          </listitem>
+        </varlistentry>
         <varlistentry id="ignore-carrier">
           <term><varname>ignore-carrier</varname></term>
           <listitem>
diff --git a/src/devices/nm-device.c b/src/devices/nm-device.c
index f1643ea77..83480096b 100644
--- a/src/devices/nm-device.c
+++ b/src/devices/nm-device.c
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ typedef struct _NMDevicePrivate {
 	guint32         v4_route_table;
 	guint32         v6_route_table;
 
-	/* when carrier goes away, we give a grace period of CARRIER_WAIT_TIME_MS
+	/* when carrier goes away, we give a grace period of _get_carrier_wait_ms()
 	 * until taking action.
 	 *
 	 * When changing MTU, the device might take longer then that. So, whenever
@@ -530,6 +530,7 @@ static gboolean addrconf6_start_with_link_ready (NMDevice *self);
 static NMActStageReturn linklocal6_start (NMDevice *self);
 
 static void _carrier_wait_check_queued_act_request (NMDevice *self);
+static gint64 _get_carrier_wait_ms (NMDevice *self);
 
 static const char *_activation_func_to_string (ActivationHandleFunc func);
 static void activation_source_handle_cb (NMDevice *self, int addr_family);
@@ -2465,8 +2466,6 @@ carrier_changed (NMDevice *self, gboolean carrier)
 	}
 }
 
-#define LINK_DISCONNECT_DELAY 4
-
 static gboolean
 carrier_disconnected_action_cb (gpointer user_data)
 {
@@ -2523,10 +2522,13 @@ nm_device_set_carrier (NMDevice *self, gboolean carrier)
 			_LOGD (LOGD_DEVICE, "carrier: link disconnected");
 			carrier_changed (self, FALSE);
 		} else {
-			priv->carrier_defer_id = g_timeout_add_seconds (LINK_DISCONNECT_DELAY,
-			                                                carrier_disconnected_action_cb, self);
-			_LOGD (LOGD_DEVICE, "carrier: link disconnected (deferring action for %d seconds) (id=%u)",
-			       LINK_DISCONNECT_DELAY, priv->carrier_defer_id);
+			gint64 now_ms, until_ms;
+
+			now_ms = nm_utils_get_monotonic_timestamp_ms ();
+			until_ms = NM_MAX (now_ms + _get_carrier_wait_ms (self), priv->carrier_wait_until_ms);
+			priv->carrier_defer_id = g_timeout_add (until_ms - now_ms, carrier_disconnected_action_cb, self);
+			_LOGD (LOGD_DEVICE, "carrier: link disconnected (deferring action for %ld milli seconds) (id=%u)",
+			       (long) (until_ms - now_ms), priv->carrier_defer_id);
 		}
 	}
 }
@@ -10698,6 +10700,18 @@ nm_device_is_up (NMDevice *self)
 	return ifindex > 0 ? nm_platform_link_is_up (nm_device_get_platform (self), ifindex) : TRUE;
 }
 
+static gint64
+_get_carrier_wait_ms (NMDevice *self)
+{
+	gs_free char *value = NULL;
+
+	value = nm_config_data_get_device_config (NM_CONFIG_GET_DATA,
+	                                          NM_CONFIG_KEYFILE_KEY_DEVICE_CARRIER_WAIT_TIMEOUT,
+	                                          self,
+	                                          NULL);
+	return _nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64 (value, 10, 0, G_MAXINT32, CARRIER_WAIT_TIME_MS);
+}
+
 gboolean
 nm_device_bring_up (NMDevice *self, gboolean block, gboolean *no_firmware)
 {
@@ -10772,7 +10786,7 @@ nm_device_bring_up (NMDevice *self, gboolean block, gboolean *no_firmware)
 			nm_device_add_pending_action (self, NM_PENDING_ACTION_CARRIER_WAIT, FALSE);
 
 		now_ms = nm_utils_get_monotonic_timestamp_ms ();
-		until_ms = NM_MAX (now_ms + CARRIER_WAIT_TIME_MS, priv->carrier_wait_until_ms);
+		until_ms = NM_MAX (now_ms + _get_carrier_wait_ms (self), priv->carrier_wait_until_ms);
 		priv->carrier_wait_id = g_timeout_add (until_ms - now_ms, carrier_wait_timeout, self);
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/nm-config.h b/src/nm-config.h
index 17912185f..8bdd5002d 100644
--- a/src/nm-config.h
+++ b/src/nm-config.h
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@
 #define NM_CONFIG_KEYFILE_KEY_DEVICE_MANAGED                "managed"
 #define NM_CONFIG_KEYFILE_KEY_DEVICE_IGNORE_CARRIER         "ignore-carrier"
 #define NM_CONFIG_KEYFILE_KEY_DEVICE_SRIOV_NUM_VFS          "sriov-num-vfs"
+#define NM_CONFIG_KEYFILE_KEY_DEVICE_CARRIER_WAIT_TIMEOUT   "carrier-wait-timeout"
 
 #define NM_CONFIG_KEYFILE_KEYPREFIX_WAS                     ".was."
 #define NM_CONFIG_KEYFILE_KEYPREFIX_SET                     ".set."