If you have to do internet tests, then you might try LWP::Online. It's really simple. Just preface your tests like so:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use LWP::Online ':skip_all';

LWP::Online::online();
[download]

The only drawback is that it justs checks for http by default. If it works, then it'll come back true. If it doesn't work, it will come back with "Invalid or Unsupported Transport".