public static function check_server_ip_connectivity() {
    
    $servers = $ips = array();

    // Some web hosts may disable this function
    if ( function_exists('gethostbynamel') ) {  
      
      $ips = gethostbynamel( 'rest.akismet.com' );
      if ( $ips && is_array($ips) && count($ips) ) {
        $api_key = Akismet::get_api_key();
        
        foreach ( $ips as $ip ) {
          $response = Akismet::verify_key( $api_key, $ip );
          // even if the key is invalid, at least we know we have connectivity
          if ( $response == 'valid' || $response == 'invalid' )
            $servers[$ip] = 'connected';
          else
            $servers[$ip] = $response ? $response : 'unable to connect';
        }
      }
    }
    
    return $servers;
  }