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A ping is not a 100% accurate indication of connectivity, as it only requires sending two packets every second (a ping request and ping response). I've seen networks that could ping, but that couldn't support actual data transfer like HTTP. If ping times are consistent, then the RF properties are probably okay. The reason I say this is that, if the RF properties are bad--low signal strength or SNR--then pings will get corrupted and 802.11 will have to retransmit. This will cause wild variations in the ping time. If ping times are consistent, then it indicates that the wireless network is not having to retransmit the packets. Bear in mind that you have to be pinging from one end of the wireless link to the other for this to work. You shouldn't be pinging, for example, from a computer on a wired LAN on one side of the wireless link to a server on the Internet on the other side of the wireless link, because that introduces too many other variables that can affect ping time.

If you can ping but not get Internet connectivity, I would probably consider upper-layer troubleshooting. The RF link may be fine, and something else, like a firewall, might be blocking your connectivity.