[Tutor] Monitoring an Internet connection in Python

[Terry Carroll]

My DSL connection is pretty fragile, and tends to drop a lot, and for 
extended periods.  I'd like to write a Python program to periodicaly (say, 
every 5 minutes or so) check the status of the Internet connection, and 
log any change in status (detecting when it becomes unavailable and when 
it becomes available again), so I can document the failures to SBC.

What's the best way to check whether my system has a working Internet
connection using Python?  My thinking is to select a few IP addresses
known to be reliable, and to define "connection available" as being when
at least one of those sites responds to a ping.  Is there a better way?