| Local area Network |
Wide area Network |
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| 1. LAN referred to as “Local Area Network” |
WAN Referred to as “Wide Area Network” |
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| 2. LAN normally covers a small area for example within a building or under a KM. |
Whereas WAN covers a very large area which may be in thousand KM, the biggest example is “Internet” |
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| 3. Since LAN consists of small geographic area therefore it is easy to install and maintenance is also easy, moreover setup cast is also lower than WAN. |
WAN is a little complex as compare to WAN, required some more configurations. Install cast may be higher than LAN depending upon the technology used. |
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| 4. Core LAN devices include switch, hub bridge and repeaters. Router are also used in LAN for communicating different LAN or vlan within the LAN (but normally it is considered to be a WAN device) |
Routers and layer 3 or multilayered switches are the examples of WAN devices. |
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| 5. Protocols: CSMA/CD, TCP/IP, ARP, NAT |
WAN Protocols: BGP, RIP, EIGRP, OSPF |
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| 6. LAN Topologies: bus topology, star topology, ring topology |
WAN Topologies: Point to point, point to multi point |
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| 7. LAN data rate is much higher than WAN, it may be in 100/1000/1G/10G
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Typically the WAN data rate lower than the local area network.
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| 8. LAN, it is limited in the range of geographic. |
WAN covers a large area. |
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| 9. Private IP addresses are used for LAN, and these IP addresses can be used different LAN. |
Public IPs are used in WAN and these IP addresses cannot be repeated. Every device in WAN have a unique IP address. |
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| 10. You can use Private IP addresses in LAN for free. |
You need to purchase WAN IP address from some ISP. |
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| 11. Troubleshooting of LAN is relatively easy as compare to WAN. |
WAN is more complex therefore it may be difficult to troubleshoot. |
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| 12. LAN have less Less congestion or traffic as compare to WAN |
whereas WAM is more congestion with respect to traffic. |
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