5 Types of Computer Networks: Advantages, Disadvantages

Do you know about computer networks, how many types of computer networks & the advantages & disadvantages of computer networks? If you do not know then this post is for you. Through this post computer networks and their types have been described in detail.

A computer network consists of two or more linked devices to send and receive information and make communicate with each other.

In a computer network, one node is a computer, printer or other device capable of sending or receiving information to another node on the network. Even many years ago, information transactions used to happen, but at that time there were no electronic media, so it was very late for information to reach from one place to another.

What is Computer Networks?

Computer networking is a design, to connect two or more computers. Requires cables, wireless or satellites, to connect two or more computers.

Information in the wire medium is shared via coaxial cable, twisted pair cable or fibre optics cable. Radio wave, infrared or Bluetooth devices are used to transmit data in a wireless medium.

A network is made up of a collection of many electronic devices. The most important part is the sender and receiver or many computers, servers and networking devices are used.

5 types of Computer Networks

There are different types of computer networks. Basically, it is classified according to its geographical size.

• LAN (Local Area Network)
• MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
• WAN (Wide Area Network)
• PAN (Personal Area Network)
• CAN (Campus Area Network)

LAN (Local Area Network)

A Local area network is generally a communication network. It covered the small area like houses, schools, colleges, offices, buildings and campuses. LAN can cover a maximum area of about 1 kilometre. The speed of data transfer through Lan is 100 to 1000 Mbps.

The group of computers and networking devices in the office are connected through a switch using a private IP address. IP addresses are unique in relation to another computer on the local area network.

LAN communication is used in so many places because it is easy to maintain and its hardware device is not so expensive. Devices that are used in a local area network router, switch, hub, network adaptor and Ethernet cable.

The LAN connections are made over a small geographic area and use a limited number of devices. Bus, Ring and Star topologies are used in this local area network. In an office, this network is best because there is a single server and all the staff access the information from that server. Also, it is used in the Lan support printer. 

Advantages of LAN

• Sharing information
• Easy to design and maintenance 
• Not so expensive
• High data transmission
• Devices that are used in LAN is easy to access

Disadvantages of LAN

• Cover the limited area.
• There is some problem like cable disturbance, and hardware faulty in the Local area network.

MAN (METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORK)

Man is also called a metropolitan area network. MAN’s coverage area is larger than LAN and smaller than WAN. 

Due to the expensive rate, small organizations may not effort it. So, this network connects all small organizations, schools, colleges, and government offices in a city. MAN is designed for those people who want high-speed data. So MAN provides the required capacity at a low cost and better efficiency than the local telephone company network. The data transmission speed of MAN is up to 100 Mbps.

The range of this network is 100 kilometres. MAN is confined to a specific town, city or region. The data transfer rate and propagation delay of MAN are moderate. The best example of this is the telephone network. They provide high-speed DSL lines to the customers or cable TV networks in the city.

Advantages of MAN

• Less expensive than WAN.
• MAN is a higher security level than WAN.
• The speed of data transfer is high because of using fibre optics.

Disadvantages of MAN

• Installation of MAN is more expensive than LAN.
• Data transmission speed is moderated.
• The highly technical person required for configuring the MAN.

WAN (WIDE AREA NETWORK)

The full form of WAN is a wide area network. The network that comes after LAN and MAN is a wide-area network.

A Wide Area Network connects all the computers within a large geographical area comprising a region, a country, or even the whole world. There is no distance limit. Users can share long-distance transmission of their data, image, voice, videos or other information over a large geographical area.

The company provides a network facility through WAN is called Internet Service Provider. A computer that connects to a WAN mostly uses a public network. Such as radio waves, telephone lines or satellites. 

The data transfer speed in WAN is 10 to 20 Mbps. WANs cover a large geographical area. therefore WANs have high bandwidth compared to LANs and MANs.

Advantages of WAN

• It covers a large geographical area.
• In WAN you can share the data to all of your connected devices in a network.

Disadvantages of WAN

• In this network installation process and maintenance are difficult.
• It is very expensive than LAN and MAN.
• A highly technical person could handle this network.

PAN (Personal Area Network)

Personal Area Network is smaller than all other networks. It is helpful in connecting the personal things of the person. As if a user would have connected a printer, speaker, or smartphone to his computer in his home. This is possible because of the personal area network.

In this type of network, the devices stay connected within 10 meters. This means that the personal area network has a range of 10 meters. All the devices connected to this network work in a small network area. Generally, wireless networks, Bluetooth and small-range infrared connectivity are used in this.

There are 2 types of devices in this personal area network. One is wireless devices that connect with each other on the basis of Bluetooth, Infrared, and WIFI. Another type of device is called wire devices which are connected with the help of wire connections.

Advantages of PAN

• It is easy to connect any device due to it providing connection in a small area.
• It is cost-effective.
• it is used in Bluetooth speakers, TV remotes, AC remotes, etc.

Disadvantages of PAN

• Personal Area Network range is less than other networks.
• Infrared, travelling in a straight line, does not work due to some substance coming between it.

CAN (Campus Area Network)

Within any campus, whether it is a hospital, school, college or society, providing internet connection in them is called a Campus Area Network. This connection can be of any type, whether it is a LAN connection or a wireless connection.

The campus area network is larger than the local area network but smaller than the wide area network and metropolitan area network. The geographical range of CAN is 1 Km to 5 Km.

Advantages of CAN

• Since this network is limited to one campus, the installation is easy and there is not much expansion.
• Any internet connection can be used in this network.
• The data transmission speed in this network is very fast.

Disadvantages of CAN

• This network requires a little more maintenance than other networks.
• It works within campus only.

Conclusion

Computer network is a medium to provide internet access to the users. Due to this, users are able to use the basic services of the Internet. According to the requirement of the user, 5 different types of computer networks are used in different places.

So, friends, this article is a lot of information about 5 Important types of computer networks & advantages and disadvantages of computer networks. I think you all must have understood the topic of this network because everyone should know about networks. We all are surrounded by networks.

Hope you like this article and how you felt must tell below the comment box. If any doubts then definitely write in the comment box. Thanks for reading this article.