Despite what anyone might say about having found the solution, this issue is not fixed by any steps that I have tried, and I have tried everything that anyone has suggested here. This is a bug in the driver in iPadOS, and possibly in iOS as well, although I have not experienced as much of a problem with my iPhone. One of the odd things is that it seems like the problem gets worse over time. With my iPad 10" 2017 model it started off as a drop-out in streaming from time to time but progressively got worse until I had to re-connect the wifi connection every couple of minutes. Eventually I contacted Apple support and they agreed to replace this iPad and my replacement model is much better - but the symptoms are slowly getting worse again. While the iPad was away I started using my iPad mini and that started off OK, but has progressively got worse and worse as well. This is a weird issue but I am very disappointed that Apple have not dealt with it by now. It is always possible that they will never acknowledge that there is a problem and just silently fix it. It is even possible that the fix will be in the final version of 14.5 but I am not holding my breathe. They may either not recognise the problem exists or even may not know how to fix it! Note that I have tried a number of different access points, and changed the settings on these various access points in various ways, and the symptoms remain exactly the same. I have also tried all the various suggested ways of fixing the issue by changing settings on the iPads. I have also ruled out an issue with any particular iPad as detailed above. I am therefore as sure as I can be that the problems are with iPadOS.

I think I may finally have got to the bottom of the specific problems that I have been experiencing. I now do not think that it is an iPadOS problem (sorry for maligning it), but an issue with a rogue device creating a WiFi network that grossly interferes with the network created by my WiFi access points. That device in my case is a SkyQ satellite TV box. The SkyQ system was introduced by Sky TV here in the UK (maybe also in some other territories?) in 2016. It has many features but one of the key ones is the ability to have Sky Q Mini boxes elsewhere in the house that connect back to the main box using WiFi. In order for this to operate the main box broadcasts a WiFi network. Unfortunately this WiFi network is notorious for not playing well with other WiFi networks. It interferes because it transmits a very broad 80MHz signal (for maximum throughput) which saturates the bands which other devices use. The effect of this is that the connection for other devices to their network drops from time to time and has to be re-established. Why exactly this happens I don't know, particularly as I do not have any mini boxes in my house - maybe the main box broadcasts a signal from time to time to see if there is anything else out there (pure speculation on my part)? It is possible to switch off the WiFi signal through a hidden function in the SkyQ boxes settings - navigate to settings and when the highlight is sitting on Settings (before pressing select) type 001 and then press select. That takes you into a hidden menu where you can disable the WiFi. Unfortunately this apparently disables the whole WiFi functionality, not just broadcast, so if the box is connected to the router using a WiFi connection this will be disabled and you must use ethernet for that connection. Not a problem for me as I use ethernet (much better of course) anyway. The end result of disabling the SkyQ WiFi is that my problems have magically gone away, and for the first time for a long while internet access from my iPads seems to be back to normal with no interruptions. I wish I had worked this out sooner, but partly because I don't use any of the WiFi functionality of my SkyQ box (no mini boxes, ethernet backhaul) it just didn't occur to me that it could be the problem. I therefore suggest that anyone experiencing similar problems looks into the possibility of interference with the operation of their WiFi network, with the SkyQ box (or similar) foremost as a possibility if you have one installed.

I would seriously urge everyone experiencing these problems to look deeply into the possibility that some other rogue WiFi sources (or some other radio interference) are interfering with your signal. I was absolutely convinced that it was my device until I found out that it was my Sky Q box, as detailed in my post above. Having switched off the Sky Q box's transmissions my problems have totally ceased - everything is totally rock solid now and very fast and reliable. It was hard for me to believe that the Sky box could be so badly interfering with other WiFi devices but clearly it has not been developed to be compatible with other WiFi transmissions, and there are a number of threads on other boards relating this issue. If you are located in the UK then there is a good chance that you or your neighbour might have a Sky Q box. If you are not in the UK then it may be some other device. Try searching for this thread on helpforum.sky.com for an idea of how many people have this issue (I can't include the URL because this board doesn't permit it): Sky Q-interferes-with-Internet-causing-slowdown-and-latency-A-Solution There is no resolution reported in 23 pages of posts except turning off the Sky Q WiFi network. I am not saying absolutely that this is your problem, but I would bet that in many cases it or something similar is at the root of it.

Once again, please take seriously the possibility that your problem is caused by external interference rather than a problem with your iPhone or iPad. Although initially I thought that this must a problem with my device rather than the WiFi network because of the symptoms, I have to retract that belief given how completely the symptoms have been resolved once I found their true cause. I also find it very hard to believe that there is a fundamental issue with the WiFi functionality of these devices - Apple has a lot of extremely capable engineers, and if there really were an issue this far-reaching then I am sure that they would have addressed it by now. The lack of a "fix" in any of the many recent OS updates suggests that there is nothing actually wrong. Does your device show the same symptoms if you try and access a WiFi network in a totally different location from where you primarily use it? If it is fine elsewhere then it is not a problem with the device but is an issue at your primary location. I had tried changing my router and access points at my primary location to fix my problem with no effect - because it was not a problem with any of these. It was a different device at my location that was causing the problem by interfering with the devices creating my WiFi network. Look for that! Seriously.

@joshbish - I'm sorry, but to me it is totally unlikely that you would have such an all-encompassing problem with so many devices when most people do not have any problems at all. Also it is very hard to believe that there is such a systemic problem with WiFi reception on all Apple devices that Apple are unaware of, or are unable to fix. Your case in particular points very strongly at an issue with the environment where you are using the devices - I would bet that you have a WiFi interference problem rather than a problem with the devices. In my case it was a rogue Sky Q box - in your case it could be a different source for the problem (maybe not a WiFi device but some other source of radio interference) but that is almost certainly, in my view, where your problems will lie.