There have been some reports lately of people experiencing odd Wi-Fi connection issues with their iPads. These issues included intermittent loss of connection, frequent login requests, and just poor reception.
Like many technical issues that become hard to diagnose, there seemed to be little rhyme or reason to why some were affected and others (including myself) had no troubles at all.
Now Apple has updated their Knowledge Base article to point to a seemingly odd solution for this vexing issue: increase your screen brightness. As reported in a recent TidBITS article:
“Apple has quietly updated a Knowledge Base article about issues that iPads have when connecting to Wi-Fi networks. Initially, the article offered only basic suggestions, like making sure your Wi-Fi router’s firmware was up to date, and using WPA or WPA2 instead of WEP. While I’m sure using current firmware and modern encryption approaches are a good idea, they really weren’t related to most of the problems.
“In the updated article, Apple now suggests that having the screen brightness at its lowest setting could be related, which sounds truly weird. However, commenter Eugen notes that common methods of dimming LEDs could result in oscillations that could interfere with other radiation, such as Wi-Fi signals. And I’ve heard from a reader that raising the screen brightness on his iPad did indeed solve his particular Wi-Fi connection problem.”
They do report that an upcoming software update will address the issue. In the meantime, if you’re experiencing intermittent connection loss with Wi-Fi on your iPad, try adjusting the brightness of your screen. It just might be the (unusual) fix you’re looking for.