What is the best way to check for Internet connectivity using .NET?

Question

What is the fastest and most efficient way to check for Internet connectivity in .NET?

Answer 1

Multi threaded version of ping:

  using System;
  using System.Collections.Generic;
  using System.Diagnostics;
  using System.Net.NetworkInformation;
  using System.Threading;


  namespace OnlineCheck
  {
      class Program
      {

          static bool isOnline = false;

          static void Main(string[] args)
          {
              List ipList = new List {
                  "1.1.1.1", // Bad ip
                  "2.2.2.2",
                  "4.2.2.2",
                  "8.8.8.8",
                  "9.9.9.9",
                  "208.67.222.222",
                  "139.130.4.5"
                  };

              int timeOut = 1000 * 5; // Seconds


              List threadList = new List();

              foreach (string ip in ipList)
              {

                  Thread threadTest = new Thread(() => IsOnline(ip));
                  threadList.Add(threadTest);
                  threadTest.Start();
              }

              Stopwatch stopwatch = Stopwatch.StartNew();

              while (!isOnline && stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds <= timeOut)
              {
                   Thread.Sleep(10); // Cooldown the CPU
              }

              foreach (Thread thread in threadList)
              { 
                  thread.Abort(); // We love threads, don't we?
              }


              Console.WriteLine("Am I online: " + isOnline.ToYesNo());
              Console.ReadKey();
          }

          static bool Ping(string host, int timeout = 3000, int buffer = 32)
          {
              bool result = false;

              try
              {
                  Ping ping = new Ping();                
                  byte[] byteBuffer = new byte[buffer];                
                  PingOptions options = new PingOptions();
                  PingReply reply = ping.Send(host, timeout, byteBuffer, options);
                  result = (reply.Status == IPStatus.Success);
              }
              catch (Exception ex)
              {

              }

              return result;
          }

          static void IsOnline(string host)
          {
              isOnline =  Ping(host) || isOnline;
          }
      }

      public static class BooleanExtensions
      {
          public static string ToYesNo(this bool value)
          {
              return value ? "Yes" : "No";
          }
      }
  }