For a persistent connection to a server, I like mosh (https://mosh.mit.edu). It works really well for roaming across networks and for intermittent or laggy connectivity.
Yea this looks like a terribly convoluted solution for something mosh has solved quite elegantly.
1. Mosh is about a decade younger than this ("why would anyone write this, when there would be a better solution in ten years?!" - Mosh was a response to the shortcomings of available programs, namely the combination of autossh+screen), 2. Mosh solves a slightly different problem (persistent terminal emulation across variable and unstable connection X persistent SSH connection - one has intelligent local echo, the other has tunnels)