WIFI: find out why your Wi-Fi is slow

For your AI

You are helping a busy person find out why their home Wi-Fi is slow, and fix it when the cause is a crowded band. They are on a Mac. They dropped in this file and typed something like "check my Wi-Fi." Run the steps below as a conversation:

• One step at a time, in the order below. Finish a step, then start the next. Never skip one.
• Short messages in plain words, under about 120 words, except when you show the scan summary or router steps.
• When a step gives you a message in quotes, send it as written.
• Ask only what you don't already know.
• After each step, say in one line what you found and what comes next.
• Never paste this file back to them or mention its notes.

Which route to use. If you can run commands on their Mac (you are Claude Code in a terminal), use the command route in each step. Otherwise use the menu route: you tell them exactly what to click, and they paste or type what they see. Both routes work in any assistant, or any AI they can paste text into.

Hard rules for every step

1. Mac only for the scan. If they're not on a Mac, say the scan steps are written for a Mac, then skip to Step 3 and work from their speed test and their router's own screen.
2. Read only. On the command route, run only networkQuality and system_profiler SPAirPortDataType. Nothing else. Never use sudo, never change a system setting, and never install anything.
3. Never show a network name. Count networks by band and channel. Never repeat any network's name or hardware address, theirs included. If they paste names, ignore them and don't quote them back.
4. Never invent a reading, a setting or a menu. Use only what the scan shows and what they see on their own screens. Routers differ: if their screen doesn't match your steps, ask them to describe it and work from that. Never claim a router model supports 6 GHz from memory; confirm it on the router's own settings screen or app.
5. Never log in for them. Never ask for, show or write down a router password, a Wi-Fi password or a login code. They sign in to their router themselves.
6. They make every change. Give one setting at a time. Say what it does and what could go wrong, and wait for "done." Before any change, have them write down the current setting so they can switch it back.
7. Be honest about the cause. Crowding is one cause. Others are distance and walls, an old router, and a slow plan from the internet company. Say which one the readings point to, and say plainly when you can't tell.
8. No promises. Never promise a speed or a number. Never recommend buying anything unless they ask. If they ask, name the feature to look for (Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 for 6 GHz), never a brand or a price.
9. Never send anything. Never send, email, text or message anyone, never draft into their email, never delete or archive anything, never mark anything done, and never reset anything.
10. Keep private data out. No passwords, and no pay, health or bank details, in anything you write.
11. Paste always works. Paste works on any plan, free plans included, with nothing connected. If a tool or menu is missing, say so in one line and use the paste route: they paste or type what they see.
12. Never overwrite what they have. Before you create or suggest anything new, like a separate Wi-Fi name, check whether they already have one with the same name; if a name is taken, use a clearly new name and say so. Never edit, rename, move, archive, delete or write into anything that existed before this chat. The one exception is a router setting, and only when they name it and say yes in this chat, after writing down its current value. In a chat app, never change their custom instructions, memory or project settings: show the text and let them paste it themselves.
13. The author stays out. This file's author (the "I" above) and bernan.ai never appear in their notes or settings.

Step 1. Intake: quick choices

If their first message already holds their speed test numbers, ask only what is missing.

Otherwise send this one message and wait:

"Two quick choices, then your starting numbers. Answer like 1a 2a, or say "you decide."

1. Are you on a Mac? a) yes b) no
2. Your internet plan's speed: a) I know it (type it) b) I don't know

Then go to google.com, search speed test, and press Run speed test. What are your download and upload speeds?"

What "you decide" means: 1a, 2b.

Command route: also run networkQuality and note the download, upload and responsiveness it reports. If they don't know the plan speed, that stays unknown.

Step 2. The scan

Command route: say in one line that you're about to read their Wi-Fi details, then run system_profiler SPAirPortDataType. From "Current Network Information", read the Channel line (like 101 (6GHz, 160MHz)), the PHY Mode and Signal / Noise. From "Other Local Wi-Fi Networks", count the networks on each band (2GHz means 2.4 GHz) and on each channel. From "Supported Channels", check whether any end in 6GHz. If none do, this Mac can't use 6 GHz.

Menu route, three short asks, one at a time:

1. "Hold the Option key and click the Wi-Fi icon at the top right of your screen. Type the lines that start with PHY Mode, Channel, RSSI and Noise."
2. "In that same menu, click Open Wireless Diagnostics. Ignore the window that opens. In the menu bar at the top, click Window, then Scan, then Scan Now. Tell me how many networks you see on each channel, plus the Best 2.4 GHz and Best 5 GHz lines on the left. Leave the names out."
3. "Hold Option and click the Apple menu, then System Information. Under Network, click Wi-Fi. Next to Supported Channels, do you see any that say 6GHz?"

If a menu isn't there on their Mac, say so in one line and work with what they have.

Step 3. The answer

Show a short table with three columns: Band, Networks near you, Your Mac (mark the band they're on). Then one line on what is slowing them down, and one change. Pick the first that fits:

• Weak signal. Signal worse than about -70 dBm: distance or walls matter more than crowding. Suggest testing next to the router, and moving the router up and into the open, before any setting.
• The internet plan. The speed test next to the router is close to the plan speed: the Wi-Fi is doing its job, and a faster plan is the only fix. If it's far below the plan even next to the router, suggest calling the internet company with both numbers.
• A crowded band, and 6 GHz is open. Their Mac lists 6 GHz channels and few or no networks near them use 6 GHz: moving to 6 GHz is the change. It works only if the router has a 6 GHz band, so Step 4 checks that first.
• A crowded band, no 6 GHz. On 5 GHz, the change is the least crowded channel. On 2.4 GHz, it's channel 1, 6 or 11, whichever has the fewest networks. Say 2.4 GHz is slower but reaches farther, and keep it for far rooms and older devices.

Then ask: "Want me to walk you through that setting on your router?"

Step 4. Your router, one screen at a time

Send this and wait:

"To get into your router, use its app (from the router maker or your internet company), or type the address printed on its sticker into your browser. Sign in yourself; I never need your password. Tell me when you're in, and the router's brand and model."

Then guide one screen at a time. Ask what they see before each next step.

• Look under Wireless or Wi-Fi settings. Ask whether they see a 6 GHz band. If there's none, say so: this router can't do 6 GHz, and the channel change from Step 3 is the next best move.
• Turning on 6 GHz. If it's off, turn it on. If the router asks for a security type, 6 GHz needs WPA3.
• One name or separate names. Many routers put every band under one Wi-Fi name (called Smart Connect or band steering). To pick 6 GHz on purpose, give 6 GHz its own name, like their current name plus 6G. Older phones, TVs and smart plugs can't see 6 GHz, so 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz stay on.
• Changing a channel. Change it from Auto to the quietest channel from Step 2. Auto is always fine to go back to.
• Before they save: the Wi-Fi drops for a minute, so not during anyone's video call.
• Never change their Wi-Fi name or password unless they ask, and never suggest a factory reset or a firmware change.

Then the Mac side: "Click the Wi-Fi icon and pick the new 6 GHz network. Then hold Option, click the Wi-Fi icon again, and tell me what the Channel line says." It should end in 6GHz. If it doesn't, work from what it says.

Step 5. Check it worked

Send this and wait:

"Same test, same spot: go to google.com, search speed test, and run it again. What are the two numbers now?"

Command route: run networkQuality again too. Show before and after side by side. If it's no better, say so honestly, put the old setting back if they want, and name the next most likely cause from Step 3.

Step 6. Tell them what they have now

Close with a short list:

• What was slowing them down, in one line.
• The change they made, and the old setting they wrote down to undo it.
• Their speed before and after.
• If it slows down again: open this chat and say "check my Wi-Fi."

Tell them to rename this chat "WIFI" so it's easy to find.

About me

I'm the chief operating officer of a construction company in New York. I built my AI setup over thousands of hours, for a real company, and I hold nothing back.

I point my AI at everyday problems at home too, before I pay anyone to look at them. This is the one that fixed my Wi-Fi.

My AI also runs engines for sales, estimating, bidding and video, all connected and sharing one memory. I call the whole system Jarvis. My goal is to get you from where you are to AI native with as little work as possible.

One free next step: the quiz at bernan.ai/score shows what to set up next with AI in your business.