The Advantages of a WAN Over a LAN

by Andy Walton, studioD Google

The Local Area Network (LAN) and the Wide Area Network (WAN) are both types of data networks. Their main difference is in scale, with LANs intended for communication within a room or building and WANs used to exchange traffic between different buildings, cities or even countries. Implementing a WAN over a LAN can help your business to facilitate communication between branches and allow employees to work remotely.

WANs and LANs

A WAN is essentially a larger version of a LAN, designed to allow communication over a wide geographical area. Although there is no strict definition of what constitutes a WAN as opposed to a LAN, WANs can generally be recognized by their use of public infrastructure such as phone or cable lines. By contrast, most organizations that use a LAN own all the parts of that network. The internet is a good example of a WAN, while an office network is a typical example of a LAN.


The principal advantage of a WAN is its size. By linking multiple sites together, LANs allow communication between entities on different sides of the country or even the other side of the world. This can be especially beneficial for businesses, allowing them to centralize key operations, such as stock control. Although it would be technically possible to build a LAN that allowed communication on this scale, it would present an extremely complex design challenge and would probably be prohibitively expensive.

Remote Access

WAN technology can be used to access network resources remotely, including other WANs or LANs. For example, a company could allow its employees to access its local network from home using their Internet connection. This can facilitate flexible working, as it means that staff do not necessarily need to be physically in the office at a set time to be able to perform their duties. Rather, they can fit work around commitments, such as childcare, or work remotely while on a business trip.


Use of public infrastructure means that connecting clients to a WAN can be less costly than connecting them to a LAN. Setting up a LAN involves purchasing and configuring every component that will be needed on that network, whereas setting up a WAN connection can be as simple as installing some software that allows for remote Internet access to a given resource. However, this is only the case if the infrastructure that will be used to access the WAN is already in place.

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