Getting HTTP Status Code
You could use Properties and read from them... IMHO, I think almost everything that goes quoted ("like this") can be either a constant or sent to a Properties file, you could have one for messages and one for configuration for example.

Also, I've noticed that you have two return statements per method, I would recommend to have only one, you don't really need one inside the catch block since the exception is suppossed to be handled then returned. It is also good for readability.

Bear in mind that exceptions could happen before you reach the connection.disconnect(); statement so I would recommend a try, catch, finally and perform all your clean up un the finally block.

Another thing... I think it is better to handle the exception differently depending on the scenario or error that caused it, for example, a connection couldn't been stablished, wrong URL, timeout (I don't know), etc.