Although a company should not be confused about what are the differences between local area network (LAN) and wide area networks (WAN) … Too often charged with finding a solution of bandwidth for your business is not clear from these basic principles of the global infrastructure of computer networks. Without understanding that affects the quality and accuracy of the final decision. So … is important to make things right.
So …. the sake of clarity here is the real difference between LAN and WAN
LAN – A local area network (LAN) is a computer network covering a local area, like a home, office or group of buildings in close proximity to each other. Current LANs are most likely to be based on switched IEEE 802.3 Ethernet, or Wi-Fi technology operates at 10, 100 or 1000 Mbit.
In general, a local area network consists of local proximity devices with each other and has its limitations finite distance. The LAN can be wired or wireless, but only in one place.
WAN – A wide area network or WAN is a computer network covering a wide geographical area. Contrast with personal area networks (PAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) or wide area networks (LAN) is generally limited to a room, building or campus. The most largest and best known of a WAN is the Internet.
A wide area network (WAN) consists of multiple LANs interconnected across distances. And example would be a corporate office connected to each of its satellite offices. This method of interconnection is handled through a third party carrier – ie Qwest provides the cabling that connects two places together.
WAN is used to connect local area networks (LAN), and so that users and computers in one location can communicate with users and computers in other places. Many WANs are built for a particular organization and are private. Others, built by Internet service providers, provide connections from an organization’s local network to the Internet. WANs are most often constructed with leased lines. At each end of the leased line, a router connects to the LAN on one side and a hub within the WAN on the other. Leased lines can be very expensive. Instead of using leased lines, WANs can also be built using less costly circuit switching or packet switching methods. Network protocols including TCP provide transport and addressing functions. Protocols, including packet over SONET, MPLS, ATM and Frame Relay are often used by service providers to offer the links used in WANs. X. 25 was an important early WAN protocol, and is often considered the grandfather of Frame Relay as many of the underlying protocols and functions of X.25 are still in use today (with upgrades) by Frame Relay.
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