CompTIA Exam Prep - ITF+, A+, Network+, Security+, CySA+

A wide area network connects networks across large geographic distances — between cities, countries, or continents. The definition every exam wants is short: a WAN spans a broad area and typically relies on infrastructure the organization does not own. The defining characteristic of a WAN is not distance. It is that someone else owns the links. That ownership point is what actually separates a WAN from a LAN. On a LAN you own the switches and the cable, so bandwidth is cheap and you control everything. On a WAN you lease capacity from a carrier, which makes bandwidth expensive, latency a fact of physics you cannot negotiate away, and availability something you buy in a contract rather than engineer yourself. The Network Types by Scale Type Scope Example PAN — personal area network A few metres Bluetooth headset, Wi-Fi Direct LAN — local area network A building or floor Office Ethernet and Wi-Fi CAN — campus area network Several adjacent buildings A university or hospita...