How to show that my Internet connection is still up and active in menu bar? I am looking for a solution to have the AirPort WiFi or other icon in the menu bar show when an active Internet connection is established.

I live in a funky WiFi connection area and connect true a router and extender. The router requires a password to connect. I use a WiFi extender to boost the signal from router.

The WiFi icon shows full connection in menu bar but that is only to the Extender.
The detail view for WiFi shows the following (left: active, right: not active):



The WiFi shows happy connection but it does not show missing internet connection.

Sometimes I lose the active Internet connection without knowing it and it is not been displayed in WiFi icon, but the Skype shows that, easy to see with a glance.



As a fix for that I use Skype that displays only when actually connected to Internet.



Can I modify the AirPort WiFi in menu bar to blink or something when it has lost the actual Internet connection?

I do not want to have Skype running to quickly see if I still have Internet.

And I do not want to have to use Terminal or System Preferences to just to see if I am still connected. Eventually in my browser I will get the notification that the site is not available, or check your internet, or something like it.
With regard to modifying the system AirPort icon, I do not believe that what you are asking for is possible.

To show internet connectivity, I use a combination of WiFi Signal (which could be substituted for the OS X AirPort menu bar item) and Cloud:


AirPort off


AirPort on &amp; not connected


AirPort connected &amp; no internet


AirPort connected &amp; internet




This works very well and takes up no more space on my menu bar as I use Cloud anyway.

Dropbox is also a good alternative as it also shows network connectivity, although it is slightly slower to respond especially on slower connections where the network test takes longer.