I'm certain that nearly most, if not all users on hacker news have a pretty solid mental model of the basics of how internet connection works, and the responsib

I'm certain that nearly most, if not all users on hacker news have a pretty solid mental model of the basics of how internet connection works, and the responsibilities between the computer or device, wifi, home router, ISP, and internet web sites or other services. But I've assisted people who's mental model is simply "Verizon put this box in my home and now I have internet". Who panic when a site doesn't load, and will call the first person they think is responsible for the problem. (typically, the company that gave them internet). Or more commonly nowadays, "my phone is my internet connection" -- and the only thing they think they have the power to do is to wave the phone in the air to find 'more bars'. I suppose it makes sense from Verizon's (or any ISPs) perspective, and honesty, if you understand how all this works, then you understand how to trivially eliminate the issue, and then of course, you know when and when not to call Verizon with problems. (Of course, it'd be awful nice if they offered 'Shibboleet' [1] service for folks who do undertsand when the problem is between the site and the router.) HOWEVER, it'd be nice if they were more upfront with the disclosure of this password sharing ... 1: https://xkcd.com/806/ https://xkcd.com/806/