LESSON 74
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TYPES OF NETWORK
SETTING UP COST
Setting up a MAN network is more expensive than a LAN but less than a WAN. Managers have to consider the cost of buying the necessary hardware, software, medium and maintenance service for the desired network.
NETWORK SIZE
The network size of a MAN falls between LAN and WAN. As you know, a LAN usually covers only a limited area such as a school lab; a MAN will cover a greater area such as a city while a WAN will cover the largest geographical area such as the size of Malaysia.
SPEED
LAN offers the best speed in transmitting information followed by MAN and WAN. In addition, LANs are capable of transmitting data at very fast rates, much faster than data which is transmitted over a telephone line although the distances are limited.
LAN is also frequently used to provide a shared connection to other networks using a link to a WAN.
A MAN often acts as a high speed network to allow sharing of regional resources (similar to a large LAN). For larger network coverage, MAN is a better choice for a higher speed connection compared to a WAN.
TRANSMISSION MEDIA
A LAN uses the cheapest transmission media compared to MAN and WAN. Generally LAN only uses communication media such as twisted-pair cables.
CONNECTION LIMIT
The number of computers that can be attached to a single LAN is limited.
A MAN can have a large number of computers compared to a LAN but less
than a WAN. A WAN can have up to billions of computers attached to it.
COMPARISON OF LAN, MAN AND WAN
