diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/FixedIntervalRateLimiter.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/FixedIntervalRateLimiter.java
index a717305..c5b2fc7 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/FixedIntervalRateLimiter.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/FixedIntervalRateLimiter.java
@@ -21,26 +21,65 @@
 import org.apache.yetus.audience.InterfaceAudience;
 import org.apache.yetus.audience.InterfaceStability;
 
+import org.apache.hbase.thirdparty.com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
+
 /**
  * With this limiter resources will be refilled only after a fixed interval of time.
  */
 @InterfaceAudience.Private
 @InterfaceStability.Evolving
 public class FixedIntervalRateLimiter extends RateLimiter {
+
+  /**
+   * The FixedIntervalRateLimiter can be harsh from a latency/backoff perspective, which makes it
+   * difficult to fully and consistently utilize a quota allowance. By configuring the
+   * {@link #RATE_LIMITER_REFILL_INTERVAL_MS} to a lower value you will encourage the rate limiter
+   * to throw smaller wait intervals for requests which may be fulfilled in timeframes shorter than
+   * the quota's full interval. For example, if you're saturating a 100MB/sec read IO quota with a
+   * ton of tiny gets, then configuring this to a value like 100ms will ensure that your retry
+   * backoffs approach ~100ms, rather than 1sec. Be careful not to configure this too low, or you
+   * may produce a dangerous amount of retry volume.
+   */
+  public static final String RATE_LIMITER_REFILL_INTERVAL_MS =
+    "hbase.quota.rate.limiter.refill.interval.ms";
+
   private long nextRefillTime = -1L;
+  private final long refillInterval;
+
+  public FixedIntervalRateLimiter() {
+    this(DEFAULT_TIME_UNIT);
+  }
+
+  public FixedIntervalRateLimiter(long refillInterval) {
+    super();
+    Preconditions.checkArgument(getTimeUnitInMillis() >= refillInterval,
+      String.format("Refill interval %s must be less than or equal to TimeUnit millis %s",
+        refillInterval, getTimeUnitInMillis()));
+    this.refillInterval = refillInterval;
+  }
 
   @Override
   public long refill(long limit) {
     final long now = EnvironmentEdgeManager.currentTime();
+    if (nextRefillTime == -1) {
+      nextRefillTime = now + refillInterval;
+      return limit;
+    }
     if (now < nextRefillTime) {
       return 0;
     }
-    nextRefillTime = now + super.getTimeUnitInMillis();
-    return limit;
+    long diff = refillInterval + now - nextRefillTime;
+    long refills = diff / refillInterval;
+    nextRefillTime = now + refillInterval;
+    long refillAmount = refills * getRefillIntervalAdjustedLimit(limit);
+    return Math.min(limit, refillAmount);
   }
 
   @Override
   public long getWaitInterval(long limit, long available, long amount) {
+    // adjust the limit based on the refill interval
+    limit = getRefillIntervalAdjustedLimit(limit);
+
     if (nextRefillTime == -1) {
       return 0;
     }
@@ -62,7 +101,11 @@
     if (diff % limit == 0) {
       extraRefillsNecessary--;
     }
-    return nextRefillInterval + (extraRefillsNecessary * super.getTimeUnitInMillis());
+    return nextRefillInterval + (extraRefillsNecessary * refillInterval);
+  }
+
+  private long getRefillIntervalAdjustedLimit(long limit) {
+    return (long) Math.ceil(refillInterval / (double) getTimeUnitInMillis() * limit);
   }
 
   // This method is for strictly testing purpose only
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/RateLimiter.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/RateLimiter.java
index 5c69ad5..9474fdf 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/RateLimiter.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/RateLimiter.java
@@ -35,7 +35,9 @@
       + "are mostly synchronized...but to me it looks like they are totally synchronized")
 public abstract class RateLimiter {
   public static final String QUOTA_RATE_LIMITER_CONF_KEY = "hbase.quota.rate.limiter";
-  private long tunit = 1000; // Timeunit factor for translating to ms.
+  public static final long DEFAULT_TIME_UNIT = 1000;
+
+  private long tunit = DEFAULT_TIME_UNIT; // Timeunit factor for translating to ms.
   private long limit = Long.MAX_VALUE; // The max value available resource units can be refilled to.
   private long avail = Long.MAX_VALUE; // Currently available resource units
 
@@ -157,7 +159,7 @@
    * @param amount the number of required resources, a non-negative number
    * @return true if there are enough available resources, otherwise false
    */
-  private boolean isAvailable(final long amount) {
+  protected boolean isAvailable(final long amount) {
     if (isBypass()) {
       return true;
     }
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/TimeBasedLimiter.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/TimeBasedLimiter.java
index 483edbc..e6e1433 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/TimeBasedLimiter.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/TimeBasedLimiter.java
@@ -49,15 +49,17 @@
         conf.getClass(RateLimiter.QUOTA_RATE_LIMITER_CONF_KEY, AverageIntervalRateLimiter.class)
           .getName())
     ) {
-      reqsLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter();
-      reqSizeLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter();
-      writeReqsLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter();
-      writeSizeLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter();
-      readReqsLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter();
-      readSizeLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter();
-      reqCapacityUnitLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter();
-      writeCapacityUnitLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter();
-      readCapacityUnitLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter();
+      long refillInterval = conf.getLong(FixedIntervalRateLimiter.RATE_LIMITER_REFILL_INTERVAL_MS,
+        RateLimiter.DEFAULT_TIME_UNIT);
+      reqsLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter(refillInterval);
+      reqSizeLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter(refillInterval);
+      writeReqsLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter(refillInterval);
+      writeSizeLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter(refillInterval);
+      readReqsLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter(refillInterval);
+      readSizeLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter(refillInterval);
+      reqCapacityUnitLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter(refillInterval);
+      writeCapacityUnitLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter(refillInterval);
+      readCapacityUnitLimiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter(refillInterval);
     } else {
       reqsLimiter = new AverageIntervalRateLimiter();
       reqSizeLimiter = new AverageIntervalRateLimiter();
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/TestRateLimiter.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/TestRateLimiter.java
index ae9b96d..721c0df 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/TestRateLimiter.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/quotas/TestRateLimiter.java
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.quotas;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseClassTestRule;
@@ -427,4 +429,71 @@
     avgLimiter.consume(-80);
     assertEquals(limit, avgLimiter.getAvailable());
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void itRunsFullWithPartialRefillInterval() {
+    RateLimiter limiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter(100);
+    limiter.set(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+    assertEquals(0, limiter.getWaitIntervalMs());
+
+    // Consume the quota
+    limiter.consume(10);
+
+    // Need to wait 1s to acquire another resource
+    long waitInterval = limiter.waitInterval(10);
+    assertTrue(900 < waitInterval);
+    assertTrue(1000 >= waitInterval);
+    // We need to wait 2s to acquire more than 10 resources
+    waitInterval = limiter.waitInterval(20);
+    assertTrue(1900 < waitInterval);
+    assertTrue(2000 >= waitInterval);
+
+    limiter.setNextRefillTime(limiter.getNextRefillTime() - 1000);
+    // We've waited the full interval, so we should now have 10
+    assertEquals(0, limiter.getWaitIntervalMs(10));
+    assertEquals(0, limiter.waitInterval());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void itRunsPartialRefillIntervals() {
+    RateLimiter limiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter(100);
+    limiter.set(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+    assertEquals(0, limiter.getWaitIntervalMs());
+
+    // Consume the quota
+    limiter.consume(10);
+
+    // Need to wait 1s to acquire another resource
+    long waitInterval = limiter.waitInterval(10);
+    assertTrue(900 < waitInterval);
+    assertTrue(1000 >= waitInterval);
+    // We need to wait 2s to acquire more than 10 resources
+    waitInterval = limiter.waitInterval(20);
+    assertTrue(1900 < waitInterval);
+    assertTrue(2000 >= waitInterval);
+    // We need to wait 0<=x<=100ms to acquire 1 resource
+    waitInterval = limiter.waitInterval(1);
+    assertTrue(0 < waitInterval);
+    assertTrue(100 >= waitInterval);
+
+    limiter.setNextRefillTime(limiter.getNextRefillTime() - 500);
+    // We've waited half the interval, so we should now have half available
+    assertEquals(0, limiter.getWaitIntervalMs(5));
+    assertEquals(0, limiter.waitInterval());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void itRunsRepeatedPartialRefillIntervals() {
+    RateLimiter limiter = new FixedIntervalRateLimiter(100);
+    limiter.set(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+    assertEquals(0, limiter.getWaitIntervalMs());
+    // Consume the quota
+    limiter.consume(10);
+    for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
+      limiter.setNextRefillTime(limiter.getNextRefillTime() - 100); // free 1 resource
+      limiter.consume(1);
+      assertFalse(limiter.isAvailable(1)); // all resources consumed
+      assertTrue(limiter.isAvailable(0)); // not negative
+    }
+  }
 }