web service internet connection

Hi

I am working on an intranet system that uses an external internet webservice. In order to connect to the external webservice i have to connect to the internet. When the internet connection goes down and i try to get data back from the webservice the page just hangs up as it is waiting on a reply from the webservice.

How can i test in coldfusion for the internet connection being up?

I hope you can point me in right direction.

Stewart