The other major differences between a local area network and a wide area network can be explained in a tabulated form, as below:
Attributes | LAN | WAN |
---|---|---|
Complete Form | The complete form of LAN is ‘Local Area Network‘. | The complete form of WAN is the ‘Wide Area Network‘. |
Definition | LAN is a group of devices connected in a small geographic area, such as houses, offices, or buildings. | WAN is an arrangement of several devices attached over a network covering a broad area. A network having communication links crossing the regional, metropolitan, or national boundaries over a large distance is an example of WAN. |
Geographical Area | LAN covers a small geographical area, and it does not require any leased telecommunication lines. | WAN covers a large distance geographical area that usually crosses regional or metropolitan boundaries and requires leased telecommunication lines. |
Speed | LAN provides a comparatively higher speed. | WAN has a slower speed as compared to LAN. |
Data Transfer Rate | LAN provides a high data transfer rate than WAN. It can reach up to 1000 Mbps. | WAN provides a relatively slower data transfer rate. It can reach up to 150mbps. |
Propagation Delay | In LANs, the propagation delay is short. | In WANs, the propagation delay is comparatively long. |
Ownership | LAN is owned, managed, and used by an individual or an organization. Therefore, it is a private network. | WAN can be either private or public. The Internet is the best example of public WAN. |
Congestion | LAN has low congestion than WAN. | WAN has relatively higher congestion as compared to LAN. |
Fault Tolerance | LAN has higher fault tolerance. | WAN has a lower fault tolerance as compared to LAN. |
Technologies | LANs tend to use some particular connectivity technologies, mainly Ethernet and Token Ring. | WANs tend to use Frame Relay, MPLS, and ATM along with X.25 for connectivity over larger distances. |
Connection | LANs can be attached over any distance using telephone lines and radio waves. Typically, co-axial or UTP cable is used as the transmission medium. | In WAN, the devices are connected through public networks, such as the telephone system. They can also be connected via leased lined or satellites. |
Components | The main components of LAN include Layer 1 devices (e.g., hubs, repeaters) and Layer 2 devices (e.g., switches, bridges). | The main components of WAN include Layer 3 devices (e.g., Routers, Multi-layer switches) and technology-specific devices (e.g., AM, Frame-relay switches). |
Bandwidth | LAN offers high bandwidth for the transmission. | WAN offers low bandwidth for the transmission. |
Maintenance | Designing and maintenance of LANs are easy. | Designing and maintenance of WAN are complex. |
Core Principle | It works on the principle of broadcasting. | It operates on the principle of point-to-point. |
Cost | Since LAN covers a small area, it can be set up very cheaply. | The setup for WAN is high because of its wider geographical area. |
Scalability | If there is a requirement to connect more devices in a LAN, it can be easily done. It will not cost much. | When it comes to WAN, the setup of additional devices will cost high because networks in remote areas must be connected. Besides, WANs using public networks are easy to set up and are not expensive. |