Wide Area Network

Today, the internet is one of the most powerful communicating tools out there. It connects people, businesses and industries together in a way that mankind could have never imagined. However widespread the internet is, most people do not understand what it is. Many people will use the internet with no concept of it's inner workings. The internet is a wide area network that connects LANs (local area network) together, allowing users in one LAN to connect with other LANs around the world through the wide area network.

A wide area network is the largest type of network, covering more area than a LAN, PAN( personal area network,) CAN (campus area network,) and a MAN (metropolitan area network.) The wide area network connects many of these smaller networks together so users can access them from different parts of the world. Many of these networks are closed, private networks and access is restricted to the public. However, unsecured networks may be accessed through the wide area network and information may be distributed freely among users. Users of the internet will go through an internet service provider (ISP) to gain access to the wide area network. The ISP provides the connections between the LAN and the wide area network and charge users a fee to gain access through them.

There are hundreds of internet service providers out there, all with different capabilities and service fees. Many will provide access to the wide area network with a fast broadband connection, so users may have noticeably fast access to the internet, while some ISPs will offer access to the wide area network via 'dial-up,' which is a much slower yet cheaper way to access the internet.

To gain access to the wide area network, a router is used to connect a local area network to the wide area network. Routers are the key to setting up any network, allowing users to link as few as two computers and up to hundreds of computers into a single network. When two or more computers are linked together, a local area network has effectively been created, allowing the connected computers to send information to each other through the router. The network may then connect to the wide area network through a internet service provider, linking it to other local area networks around the world, granted they are not secured networks. The internet is sometimes referred to as the world wide web, which is an accurate name for what it is. It is a web of various local area networks (or other networks) connected through ISPs to a wide area network. It is the fastest way for users to connect with each other, to send information and generally remain connected across the span of the world. The internet has revolutionized the world and has allowed people to leap across continents without leaving the comfort of their home. Using the internet has now become the standard for businesses and people to connect with each other, and will for many years to come.