server-side method instead of your client-side (so a tradeoff there), but this is what i usually use:
i put this in my .bashrc (if statement is so that it won't run during batch ssh or scp logins): 
if test "xterm" = "$TERM" ; then
  /home/myname/bin/keepalive &
fi

[download]
and /home/myname/bin/keepalive is just (periodically print a space and a backspace): 
#!/bin/bash
while test 1 ; do sleep 600; echo -ne " \b"; done

[download]
Only side effect is that if a vi is left open, it appears to make the character under the cursor disappear (but really doesn't) .. ctrl-L to refresh the screen "fixes" it if i even notice it.

In reply to Re: A "better" Putty keep-alive by davidrw
in thread A "better" Putty keep-alive by diotalevi

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.