network timeouts when there's no connected network

Hi,

I have a situation where I need to have a very short timeout on socket
connections if the network is not available. Currently I'm using dexador
(same happens with Drakma), to connect to a web service. The timeouts does
not seem to affect the socket mechanisms, from what I can gather this is
due to dns resolution, and apparently it's in the comm package.

So I guess the question is what's the usual work around that should be used
in this case? I really need a fail fast mechanism if the network is down in
this use case.

I guess my current thinking is that I might have to write a network
detection system to put the system in "offline mode" if there's no network
and check periodically if the network is back up? Seems suboptimal, thought
I'd ask the veterans about this one.

Regards,

Eben Bruyns