Win32::RASE makes checking the internet connection status possible, if one digs a bit deeper. I've thought about doing a "real" program for this, but now I see that Perl already has the necessary bindings for connection checking :).

To use Win32::RASE to check the internet connection, I'd do something like the (untested) following :

  use strict;
  use Win32::RASE;

  my (%connections, $entry, $hrasconn);
  
  %connections = RasEnumConnections();
  foreach $entry (keys %connections) {
    my $status;
    $hrasconn = $connections{$entry};
    $status = RasGetConnectStatus( $hrasconn );
    if ($status == RASCS_DeviceConnected) {
      print "Computer is online via $entry\n";
    };
  };
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