testing for network connection

[Wesley Smith <wesley.hoke@...>]

I'm in need of an efficient function for testing whether or not I have
a valid connection to the outside world.  My likely naive attempt is
as follows:

function have_connection()
	local tcp = socket.connect("google.com", 80)
	if(not tcp) then
		return false
	else
		tcp:close()
		return true
	end
end


Anyone know of a more efficient/effective method?

thanks,
wes