diff --git a/packages/grafana-data/src/field/fieldComparers.ts b/packages/grafana-data/src/field/fieldComparers.ts
index 374fc707206..32182c74edf 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-data/src/field/fieldComparers.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-data/src/field/fieldComparers.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ export const fieldIndexComparer = (field: Field, reverse = false): IndexComparer
     case FieldType.boolean:
       return booleanIndexComparer(values, reverse);
     case FieldType.time:
+      if (typeof field.values.get(0) === 'number') {
+        return timestampIndexComparer(values, reverse);
+      }
       return timeIndexComparer(values, reverse);
     default:
       return naturalIndexComparer(reverse);
@@ -76,6 +79,12 @@ const falsyComparer = (a: unknown, b: unknown): number => {
   return 0;
 };
 
+const timestampIndexComparer = (values: Vector<number>, reverse: boolean): IndexComparer => {
+  let vals = values.toArray();
+  let mult = reverse ? -1 : 1;
+  return (a: number, b: number): number => mult * (vals[a] - vals[b]);
+};
+
 const timeIndexComparer = (values: Vector<unknown>, reverse: boolean): IndexComparer => {
   return (a: number, b: number): number => {
     const vA = values.get(a);
diff --git a/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/transformers/convertFieldType.test.ts b/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/transformers/convertFieldType.test.ts
index 96f55445c8f..64cd6e05d6d 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/transformers/convertFieldType.test.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/transformers/convertFieldType.test.ts
@@ -391,12 +391,12 @@ describe('fieldToTimeField', () => {
   // this needs to run in a non-UTC timezone env to ensure the parsing is not dependent on env tz settings
   //process.env.TZ = 'Pacific/Easter';
 
-  it('should always parse ISO 8601 date strings in UTC timezone (e.g. 2011-10-05T14:48:00.000Z)', () => {
+  it('should properly parse ISO 8601 date strings in UTC offset timezone', () => {
     const stringTimeField: Field = {
       config: {},
       name: 'ISO 8601 date strings',
       type: FieldType.time,
-      values: new ArrayVector(['2021-11-11T19:45:00.000Z']),
+      values: new ArrayVector(['2021-11-11T19:45:00Z']),
     };
 
     expect(fieldToTimeField(stringTimeField)).toEqual({
@@ -406,4 +406,32 @@ describe('fieldToTimeField', () => {
       values: new ArrayVector([1636659900000]),
     });
   });
+
+  it('should properly parse additional ISO 8601 date strings with tz offsets and millis', () => {
+    const stringTimeField: Field = {
+      config: {},
+      name: 'ISO 8601 date strings',
+      type: FieldType.time,
+      values: new ArrayVector([
+        '2021-11-11T19:45:00+05:30',
+        '2021-11-11T19:45:00-05:30',
+        '2021-11-11T19:45:00+0530',
+        '2021-11-11T19:45:00-0530',
+        '2021-11-11T19:45:00.0000000000+05:30',
+        '2021-11-11T19:45:00.0000000000-0530',
+        '2021-11-11T19:45:00.000Z',
+        '2021-11-11T19:45:00.0000000000Z',
+      ]),
+    };
+
+    expect(fieldToTimeField(stringTimeField)).toEqual({
+      config: {},
+      name: 'ISO 8601 date strings',
+      type: FieldType.time,
+      values: new ArrayVector([
+        1636640100000, 1636679700000, 1636640100000, 1636679700000, 1636640100000, 1636679700000, 1636659900000,
+        1636659900000,
+      ]),
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/transformers/convertFieldType.ts b/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/transformers/convertFieldType.ts
index 13d6db0d7c2..25b9d04076b 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/transformers/convertFieldType.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-data/src/transformations/transformers/convertFieldType.ts
@@ -109,8 +109,8 @@ export function convertFieldType(field: Field, opts: ConvertFieldTypeOptions): F
   }
 }
 
-// matches ISO 8601, e.g. 2021-11-11T19:45:00.000Z (float portion optional)
-const iso8601Regex = /^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}T\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}(?:\.\d{3})?Z$/;
+// matches common ISO 8601 (see tests)
+const iso8601Regex = /^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}T\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}(?:\.\d{3,})?(?:Z|[-+]\d{2}:?\d{2})$/;
 
 /**
  * @internal
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/panel/timeseries/utils.ts b/public/app/plugins/panel/timeseries/utils.ts
index f6a1219556d..9a1dc00f449 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/panel/timeseries/utils.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/panel/timeseries/utils.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import {
   SortedVector,
   TimeRange,
 } from '@grafana/data';
+import { convertFieldType } from '@grafana/data/src/transformations/transformers/convertFieldType';
 import { GraphFieldConfig, LineInterpolation } from '@grafana/schema';
 import { applyNullInsertThreshold } from '@grafana/ui/src/components/GraphNG/nullInsertThreshold';
 import { nullToValue } from '@grafana/ui/src/components/GraphNG/nullToValue';
@@ -29,6 +30,17 @@ export function prepareGraphableFields(
     return null;
   }
 
+  // some datasources simply tag the field as time, but don't convert to milli epochs
+  // so we're stuck with doing the parsing here to avoid Moment slowness everywhere later
+  // this mutates (once)
+  for (let frame of series) {
+    for (let field of frame.fields) {
+      if (field.type === FieldType.time && typeof field.values.get(0) !== 'number') {
+        field.values = convertFieldType(field, { destinationType: FieldType.time }).values;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   if (series.every((df) => df.meta?.type === DataFrameType.TimeSeriesLong)) {
     series = prepareTimeSeriesLong(series);
   }