Well what are you testing for?

The correct testing framework will depend on what the behaviour of the remote system is supposed to be. For instance:

• If the remote host is a Web server, my ability to telnet to it is irrelevant. The host's ability to respond to a request on port 80 is, however, most relevant.
• If the remote host is running a service (say, LDAP) then presumably I would want to test that particular funcationality by either testing the actual function itself (preferrable) or checking to see that it is at least running (acceptable).

A little more detail would help a great deal.

Also, applications like NetSaint may well already do a great deal of what you want to test.