diff --git a/conan/global.conf b/conan/global.conf
index cc803dc801..950bba8819 100644
--- a/conan/global.conf
+++ b/conan/global.conf
@@ -3,5 +3,13 @@
 core:non_interactive=True
 core.download:parallel={{ os.cpu_count() }}
 core.upload:parallel={{ os.cpu_count() }}
-tools.files.download:retry=5
+# Fall back to Conan Center's source backups when a recipe's upstream URL is down
+# (e.g. the GNU FTP mirrors), see
+# https://github.com/conan-io/conan-center-index/issues/28147#issuecomment-3183544772
+# The backups are only tried once every upstream URL has used up its retries,
+# so keep the retries low.
+core.sources:download_urls=["origin", "https://c3i.jfrog.io/artifactory/conan-center-backup-sources"]
+tools.files.download:retry=1
 tools.files.download:retry_wait=10
+# Fail fast on unreachable hosts (default connect timeout is 30s), keep the 60s read timeout.
+core.net.http:timeout=(5, 60)