gTalk status icon on the notification bar Instant Messenger apps such as Skype or Windows Live Messenger will display an icon on the notification bar with indication on the connection status. (I know gtalk is supposed to be always on after my first login, but there have been many occasions where it is not true. ) 

There is no status icon for Google Talk, in order to know my connection status I have to open the gtalk app and check it. Is there any way to have an icon always on the notification bar, other than using a third-party app? There are many useful features on the native client and I don't want to try various new apps.
Provided you have blue bars for your wireless and/or wifi connections and have logged into GTalk you should always be connected.

You have to sign out of GTalk or lose connection with the Google Servers (gray signal bars) in order to be offline.

Short story: as long as you signed in and have a data connection you are online for GTalk.

If that doesn't give you a warm fuzzy feeling then use a third party app like Trillian and use it for GTalk. Trillian might be able give you a notification icon.