Week Ten: Clear

Networks:

This week we learned about Networks as well as several communication concepts. This topic was actually really informative because when a user uses a laptop, desktop, the internet, or the world wide web, they don't necessarily think about where the information is coming from and how it is getting to their screen. Or at least I don't. This topic opened my eyes to the realization that networks are spread across LAN, WLAN, MAN, and WAN. 
LAN is a local area network which is usually used to connect only a limited area such as a home, school or office. Essentially, each house that has an internet connection has a LAN network. WLAN is a wireless LAN; basically a LAN connection that doesn't use any wires. WLAN will often work from a connected LAN, so these too can be featured in the home and other small environments. MAN, a metropolitan area network brings LAN connections together that are close by to one another. Usually within a city, a MAN network will take place, or as an example given in lecture, a group of schools that are close by to one another, who want to keep their networks together. Even bigger than the MAN network is the WAN network, which is a wide area network. This covers very large geographic areas, which can include a city, a state, a country, or even the world! 
In order for home computers, company computers, or any computer really to have access to any of the above listed networks, the computer must be connected somehow to a router. A router is used to communicate data from one location to another, no matter how far the computers may be from one another. A router is also used for sending and receiving data for multiple users. In order to reach a certain websites front page, a request goes through the router in order to gain access to that webpage.
(I found this web page really helpful in clarifying a few things: http://compnetworking.about.com/od/basicnetworkingconcepts/a/network_types.htm).