gistfile1.txt

$ cat connectivity.pl 
#!/usr/bin/perl
open(P,"ping dean.stargreen.com|");
my $verbose=grep(@ARGV,"-v");
#warn $verbose;
$|++; while(<P>){
    my($seq)=/icmp_req=(\d+)/ ;
    print $_ if $verbose; 
    while($seq>$expected){
        print ((scalar gmtime)." missed $expected\n");
        $expected++
    } ;
    $expected=$seq+1
}
$ /usr/bin/perl ./connectivity.pl > dropped-packets.log &
[... some time later ...]
$ awk < dropped-packets.log '{print $1, $2, $3, $4, $5}' |uniq -c | awk '$1>20 {print}'