How to check internet access on Android? InetAddress never times out

If the device is in airplane mode (or presumably in other situations where there’s no available network), cm.getActiveNetworkInfo() will be null, so you need to add a null check.

Modified (Eddie’s solution) below:

public boolean isOnline() {
    ConnectivityManager cm =
        (ConnectivityManager) getSystemService(Context.CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE);
    NetworkInfo netInfo = cm.getActiveNetworkInfo();
    return netInfo != null && netInfo.isConnectedOrConnecting();
}

Also add the following permission to the AndroidManifest.xml:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />

One other small point, if you absolutely need a network connection at the given point in time, then it might be better to use netInfo.isConnected() rather than netInfo.isConnectedOrConnecting. I guess this is up to the individual use-case however.