Android :: Valid Network Exists

I am struggling to find a way to determine if a valid network is available to an app. specifically, if there's a problem making a network connection, i would like to be determine if it's on the client (app) side, or a problem with the remote server. i happen to be attempting a URL connection (using http client) and the wide and varied possible exceptions don't seem like a reliable method. for example, when the network is down on the phone, i received "unknown host exception", which doesn't really indicate the root cause ... it's possible to get that exception with a valid network connection also. at other times i get other exceptions, such as socket exception. is there a way to ask the phone if it's network ready? the other option i thought was to ping a known good server to see if it responds ... with an IP address. kind of a heavy weight option and not foolproof.