I suspected the Aegis thing too!! As you said, even I noticed that value in settings changed, but did not have any effect. The 2.5/3.5 sign or wifi icon definitely goes away on my N9 if I flick the switch for background connections to off. Sometimes, the sign doesnt go away immediately as something is using the network at that moment, but then goes away after a few minutes, and may be that is what you saw.