What is the best way to check for Internet connect

Question

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

Answer 1

public static bool HasConnection()
{
    try
    {
        System.Net.IPHostEntry i = System.Net.Dns.GetHostEntry("www.google.com");
        return true;
    }
    catch
    {
        return false;
    }
}

That works

Answer 2

Pinging google.com introduces a DNS resolution dependency. Pinging 8.8.8.8 is fine but Google is several hops away from me. All I need to do is to ping the nearest thing to me that is on the internet.

I can use Ping's TTL feature to ping hop #1, then hop #2, etc, until I get a reply from something that is on a routable address; if that node is on a routable address then it is on the internet. For most of us, hop #1 will be our local gateway/router, and hop #2 will be the first point on the other side of our fibre connection or whatever.

This code works for me, and responds quicker than some of the other suggestions in this thread because it is pinging whatever is nearest to me on the internet.

using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;
using System.Net.NetworkInformation;
using System.Diagnostics;

internal static bool ConnectedToInternet()
{
    const int maxHops = 30;
    const string someFarAwayIpAddress = "8.8.8.8";

    // Keep pinging further along the line from here to google 
    // until we find a response that is from a routable address
    for (int ttl = 1; ttl <= maxHops; ttl++)
    {
        Ping pinger = new Ping();
        PingOptions options = new PingOptions(ttl, true);
        byte[] buffer = new byte[32];
        PingReply reply = null;
        try
        {
            reply = pinger.Send(someFarAwayIpAddress, 10000, buffer, options);
        }
        catch (System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingException pingex)
        {
            Debug.Print("Ping exception (probably due to no network connection or recent change in network conditions), hence not connected to internet. Message: " + pingex.Message);
            return false;
        }

        System.Diagnostics.Debug.Print("Hop #" + ttl.ToString() + " is " + (reply.Address == null ? "null" : reply.Address.ToString()) + ", " + reply.Status.ToString());

        if (reply.Status != IPStatus.TtlExpired && reply.Status != IPStatus.Success)
        {
            Debug.Print("Hop #" + ttl.ToString() + " is " + reply.Status.ToString() + ", hence we are not connected.");
            return false;
        }

        if (IsRoutableAddress(reply.Address))
        {
            System.Diagnostics.Debug.Print("That's routable so you must be connected to the internet.");
            return true;
        }
    }

    return false;
}

private static bool IsRoutableAddress(IPAddress addr)
{
    if (addr == null)
    {
        return false;
    }
    else if (addr.AddressFamily == AddressFamily.InterNetworkV6)
    {
        return !addr.IsIPv6LinkLocal && !addr.IsIPv6SiteLocal;
    }
    else // IPv4
    {
        byte[] bytes = addr.GetAddressBytes();
        if (bytes[0] == 10)
        {   // Class A network
            return false;
        }
        else if (bytes[0] == 172 && bytes[1] >= 16 && bytes[1] <= 31)
        {   // Class B network
            return false;
        }
        else if (bytes[0] == 192 && bytes[1] == 168)
        {   // Class C network
            return false;
        }
        else
        {   // None of the above, so must be routable
            return true;
        }
    }
}

Answer 3

Another option is the Network List Manager API which is available for Vista and Windows 7. MSDN article here. In the article is a link to download code samples which allow you to do this:

AppNetworkListUser nlmUser = new AppNetworkListUser();
Console.WriteLine("Is the machine connected to internet? " + nlmUser.NLM.IsConnectedToInternet.ToString());

Be sure to add a reference to Network List 1.0 Type Library from the COM tab... which will show up as NETWORKLIST.

Answer 4

I am having issue on those method on my 3g Router/modem, because if internet is disconnected the router redirects the page to its response page, so you still get a steam and your code think there is internet. Apples (or others) have a hot-spot-dedection page which always returns a certain response. The following sample returns "Success" response. So you will be exactly sure you could connect the internet and get real response !

public static bool CheckForInternetConnection()
{
    try
    {       
        using (var webClient = new WebClient())
        using (var stream = webClient.OpenRead("http://captive.apple.com/hotspot-detect.html"))
        {
            if (stream != null)
            {
                //return true;
                stream.ReadTimeout = 1000;
                using (var reader = new StreamReader(stream, Encoding.UTF8, false))
                {
                    string line;
                    while ((line = reader.ReadLine()) != null)
                    {
                        if (line == "<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Success</TITLE></HEAD><BODY>Success</BODY></HTML>")
                        {
                            return true;
                        }
                        Console.WriteLine(line);
                    }
                }

            }
            return false;
        }
    }
    catch
    {

    }
    return false;
}

Answer 5

I wouldn't think it's impossible, just not straightforward.

I've built something like this, and yes it's not perfect, but the first step is essential: to check if there's any network connectivity. The Windows Api doesn't do a great job, so why not do a better job?

bool NetworkIsAvailable()
{
    var all = System.Net.NetworkInformation.NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces();
    foreach (var item in all)
    {
        if (item.NetworkInterfaceType == NetworkInterfaceType.Loopback)
            continue;
        if (item.Name.ToLower().Contains("virtual") || item.Description.ToLower().Contains("virtual"))
            continue; //Exclude virtual networks set up by VMWare and others
        if (item.OperationalStatus == OperationalStatus.Up)
        {
            return true;
        }
    }

    return false;
}

It's pretty simple, but it really helps improve the quality of the check, especially when you want to check various proxy configurations.

So:

• Check whether there's network connectivity (make this really good, maybe even have logs sent back to developers when there are false positives to improve the NetworkIsAvailable function)
• HTTP Ping
• (Cycle through Proxy configurations with HTTP Pings on each)

Answer 6

Does not solve the problem of network going down between checking and running your code but is fairly reliable

public static bool IsAvailableNetworkActive()
{
    // only recognizes changes related to Internet adapters
    if (System.Net.NetworkInformation.NetworkInterface.GetIsNetworkAvailable())
    {
        // however, this will include all adapters -- filter by opstatus and activity
        NetworkInterface[] interfaces = System.Net.NetworkInformation.NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces();
        return (from face in interfaces
                where face.OperationalStatus == OperationalStatus.Up
                where (face.NetworkInterfaceType != NetworkInterfaceType.Tunnel) && (face.NetworkInterfaceType != NetworkInterfaceType.Loopback)
                select face.GetIPv4Statistics()).Any(statistics => (statistics.BytesReceived > 0) && (statistics.BytesSent > 0));
    }

    return false;
}