Computer Network Types

4 min readOct 15, 2023

Computer networks are an essential part of our modern world. They connect our devices and allow us to share information and resources with each other. There are many different types of computer networks, each with its own unique characteristics and benefits.
In this blog post, we will discuss the most common types of computer networks, including:

Personal Area Network (PAN)
Local Area Network (LAN)
Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
Wide Area Network (WAN)
Internet

Personal Area Network

A Personal Area Network (PAN) is a small network that connects devices that are close to the user, such as a smartphone, wearable devices, or wireless headphones. PANs are typically used to share files and resources between devices, or to control devices remotely.
PANs can be wired or wireless. Wired PANs use a physical connection, such as a USB cable, to connect devices. Wireless PANs use technologies such as Bluetooth or infrared to connect devices.

Local Area Network

A Local Area Network (LAN) is a network that connects devices in a limited physical area, such as a home, office, or school. LANs are typically used to share resources such as printers, file servers, and internet access.
LANs can be wired or wireless. Wired LANs use Ethernet cables to connect devices. Wireless LANs use Wi-Fi to connect devices.

LANs are composed of inexpensive networking and routing equipment. It may contains local servers serving file storage and other locally shared applications. It mostly operates on private IP addresses and does not involve heavy routing. LAN works under its own local domain and controlled centrally.
LAN uses either Ethernet or Token-ring technology. Ethernet is most widely employed LAN technology and uses Star topology, while Token-ring is rarely seen.
LAN can be wired,wireless, or in both forms at once.

Metropolitan Area Network

A Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is a network that connects devices in a metropolitan area, such as a city or town. MANs are typically used to connect LANs together and to provide internet access to businesses and homes.
MANs can be wired or wireless. Wired MANs use fiber optic cables to connect devices. Wireless MANs use technologies such as microwave or satellite to connect devices.

Wide Area Network

A Wide Area Network (WAN) is a network that connects devices over a large geographical area, such as a country or the world. WANs are typically used to connect LANs and MANs together.WANs are typically wired and use high-speed technologies such as fiber optic cables or microwave links to connect devices.

Internetwork

A network of networks is called an internetwork, or simply the internet. It is the largest network in existence on this planet.The internet hugely connects all WANs and it can have connection to LANs and Home networks. Internet uses TCP/IP protocol suite and uses IP as its addressing protocol. Present day, Internet is widely implemented using IPv4. Because of shortage of address spaces, it is gradually migrating from IPv4 to IPv6.
Internet enables its users to share and access enormous amount of information worldwide. It uses WWW, FTP, email services, audio and video streaming etc. At huge level, internet works on Client-Server model.

Internet uses very high speed backbone of fiber optics. To inter-connect various continents, fibers are laid under sea known to us as submarine communication cable.
Internet is widely deployed on World Wide Web services using HTML linked pages and is accessible by client software known as Web Browsers. When a user requests a page using some web browser located on some Web Server anywhere in the world, the Web Server responds with the proper HTML page. The communication delay is very low.
Internet is serving many proposes and is involved in many aspects of life. Some of them are:

Web sites
E-mail
Instant Messaging
Blogging
Social Media
Marketing
Networking
Resource Sharing
Audio and Video Streaming

Conclusion

I hope this helps!