In networking, two major network types are essential: Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wide Area Networks (WANs). While WAN expands communication across great geographic distances, LAN helps to promote communication within a small region.
Whether you’re putting up a household Wi-Fi network or managing global company connections, recognizing these characteristics is critical for efficient network design and management. Here, we will discuss the differences between LAN and WAN. Let’s have a look!
What Is LAN?
A local area network, or LAN, is a system of connected computers that spans a limited area, such as a building, workplace, school, lab, etc. LANs often cover a single building or a limited geographic area. Within an organizational environment, the printers, personal PCs, and other network-enabled devices are connected by the Local Area Network.
This makes it possible for users to access and share resources like email and the Internet. LAN offers friendly high-speed data transfer, a low-latency environment, and is relatively easily configured and managed.
Mostly, these networks are owned, controlled, and managed by one organization or person. Ethernet and Wi-Fi are the most common technologies used in LANs, providing flexibility in connection methods.
What Is WAN?
A Wide Area Network (WAN) spreads to a larger geographic area. Its coverage ranges from city to city or country to country. Moreover, WAN links more than one LAN. This allows easy communication and the sharing of data across large distances.
The Internet is a significant example of a WAN as it connects billions of devices worldwide. WANs have low data transfer rates and very high latency. Also, each device on a WAN is identified by a unique IP address, facilitating efficient routing and data transfer. Try What Is My IP to find out your IP address.
Key Differences Between LAN and WAN
Here are some key differences between LAN and WAN:
- Coverage: LANs cover the ideal connectivity of devices relatively close to each other within a restricted geographical area. WANs cover larger areas, linking networks from different cities, countries, and even continents.
- Speed and Latency: LANs provide high speed for data transfer and very low latency. WANs, although they cover long distances in terms of connectivity, generally have low data transfer rates and high latencies.
- Ownership and Maintenance: A LAN is usually owned and maintained by any organization or individuals. WAN, on the other hand, can sometimes be owned by many, including the public and private sections.
- Cost: The setting up of a LAN has cost implications that are relatively low. WAN, on the other hand, requires more cost for setting up a larger network.
