In my hunt to get better connection speed, I have noticed the following. When plugged in, I always get four bars of connection via wifi. When unplugged it falls to 3.

Can anyone else verify this?

Just plugged in the unit to test what you mentioned, with no change in bars. I have noticed the same thing happens once in awhile, but in this case, no change.

Nope. I am unable to duplicate the results here.

I wouldn't be surprised if the notebook's willing to give more juice to the radio when it's plugged in.

Funny thing. I was testing it again last night, and sure enough...plug it in wait about a minute and the fourth bar fills. Unplug it and wait about a minute and it goes back to three bars.

Keep in mind, my laptop is right next to the netbook and always getting full strength signal from my wireless N setup.

Does your usage location change, from where you are plugged in to not plugged in. It might just be a better reception area where you are plugged.