Parameters

LAN

MAN

WAN

Full Form

Local Area Network

Metropolitan Area Network

Wide Area Network

What is it?

• Systems are close to each other in LAN 
• contained in one office or building
• one organization can have several LANs

• Large network which connects different organizations

• Two or more LANs connected 
• Located over large geographical area 

Distance
coverage

Limited coverage, about upto 2 miles(or 2500 meters)

Limited coverage, about upto 100 miles(or 200 km)

Unlimited (usually in 1000Km) range, uses repeater and other connectivity for range extension

Speed of 
operation

High, typically 10, 100 and 1000 Mbps

High, typically 100 Mbps

Slow, about 1.5 Mbps (May vary based on wireless technologies used)

Technologies
used for medium

Locally installed, twisted pair, fiber optic cable, wireless (e.g. WLAN, Zigbee)

Locally installed and based on common carrier e.g. twisted pair, fiber optic cable etc.

Locally installed and based on common carrier e.g. twisted pair wires, fiber, coaxial cable, wireless including wireless and cellular network based

Applications

Used mainly by fixed desktop computers and portable computers (e.g. laptops) . Now-a-days it is used by smart phones due to emergence of WLAN network

Used mainly by desktop and mini computers.

Can be used by any devices, but desktop devices are mainly using this network type.