The icon is pretty common in representing a network, it's also changes based on what theme you use so you could probably modify it quite easily. For example in clearlooks it looks more like two computers which I won't screenshot, you're welcome to test for yourself.
I'm going to close this as a bug, as it's more of a request and dependent on theme. Feel free to include a better icon and it might get bumped up to wishlist, but I can't promise anything. ** Changed in: network-manager (Ubuntu) Status: Unconfirmed => Rejected -- nm-applet icon reminds more of display setup than of network setup https://launchpad.net/bugs/87952 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs