Sometimes, for some reason or the other there's something wrong with the network. The easiest way to fix it is usually to restart the network with "sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart". Though, if you're not familiar with the underlaying structure of networking in Ubuntu, you won't know this. Only more experienced users have this option, newbies and people uncomfortable with CLI will have to restart their computer to restart the network.

Adding a DNS server entry to Ubuntu that does not utilize the default port 53 is not currently possible.

Entries of DNS servers that do not use port 53 should be allowed directly in the GUI settings, or at least in a configuration file.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8245174
(my ISP blocks port 53)

wi-fi radar is needed for notebook user to find the nearest hot spot connection so the connection will optimize !!!

Sometimes i need to determine IP address of a network interface on my machine. Network Manager doesn't offer any option to view current state of any network interface. I have to start terminal emulator and say something like "ifconfig eth0".

Need for internet Scale OS or P2P OS or Auto Cluster OS. I am thinking simple usecase as below.
I have 3 development system based on commodity hardware. I want ubuntu to access other ubuntu system seamlessly. These 3 should act as single system so that, for example, if I run the http server, it should utilize processing capability of another system by routing seamlessly to another ubuntu in the same network/other. If I run video converter or some CPU/Memory intensive it should delegate it to its peer based on load. It is more than load balancing. each system acts as server and client. It would ultimately act as single system. I know it is not completely OS job. But OS can expose 1. API which can act as building block for applications -- issue with this approach is Software should be developed to utilize this capability
2. Make it peer to peer easy cluster with zero configuration, once certain load is used, subsequent load will be routed to another server. Some of the load balancer does this but it is for certain protocol level. What if it support very efficient, native way to route? Erlang has very simple and easy concurrency model.I borrowed that idea and make it in OS level.
There should be a way to monitor hardware in realtime so that any failure to be addressed without any additional effort.
I just floating this idea, so that people will refine it or come up with better idea for this kind of usecase.
I just blogged about this here http://pmsenthilkumar.blogspot.com/2009/09/internet-scale-operating-system-os.h tml

There should be an option for disconnecting the internet connection based on the specified data usage for one session. This can help people control their usage with limited data plans. This option can be added to the network manager.

Many people don't bother to run a personal firewall on their computers, because they know their entire network is protected by the firewall in their ADSL router.

However, if they take their computer to a public wifi hotspot or connect to the internet via mobile broadband, they are no longer protected by their router, and any services that they were comfortable running on their home network will suddenly be exposed to strangers on the local wireless network or on the internet.

It would be good if we could extend the behavior of network-manager ourselves to add support for new encryption types or networking methods which can be triggered by different states of the connection. Some possible plugins may include:

- New VPN connection types. Some of us may have weird VPN connection protocols that we normally need to run other apps for. This would allow users to add support for network-manager instead, without waiting for the next version.
- Wireless cracking plugin. Whilst its illegal, people could code plugin's which automatically tries to break into other connections when no connection is detected, to help optimise uptime. Great for road warriors :D
- Act on new connections easily. You could have extensions which automatically submit a GPS trace/webcam photo on connection for instance. Whilst your inbox would fill very quickly, at least if your laptop got stolen, you could very easily track it down
- Perform actions based on network type. On connection, you could have a plugin for instance that warns of connections which are known to be insecure (ie, you can see packets going to other networks).
- If WPA3 comes out, users could add support themselves to the network-manager, instead of having to edit config files, and run the apps themselves.

All within one tool, and it really eliminates the need for terminal or extra frontend config/connect tools for different connection types

It would be nice if there was a way to store the network settings on a memory stick (or on a network share), and make it so that they may be loaded onto any computer.

This would make it much easier for IT departments, university help desks and network administrators who want an easy way to set up peoples computers. The settings could even cover wireless and VPN settings, or even much more complex networks, and have a way to log the Mac address being set up (so that a list of Mac addresses and corresponding names could easily be generated, and added to the Mac filtering list).

A simple "Restart Wireless Services" button would be a nice addition to the NetworkManager Applet.

Sometimes it takes quite a while for the networking services to start after waking from suspend. This would prevent having to go in term to type "/etc/init.d/networking restart" which would be great for new users.