Hello,
I'm familiar with the acronyms LAN, MAN, and WAN. My understanding is that these terms refer to the size of the network: small (the size of a room, building, or university campus), medium (the size of a city), and large (country size).
However, I've been reading about networks lately and have come across text that suggests that LANs are mostly (or all) broadcast networks. I thought that whether or not a network was broadcast had to do with its topology and didn't have anything to do necessarily with its size.
For example, a network that sends signals down some central trunk that all nodes tap into, like the old cable TV system, would be a broadcast network. Or anything wireless would be broadcast (obviously).
So, now I'm a little confused.
My understanding is that all wireless networks are broadcast by default. Further, whether or not a wired network is broadcast stems from how the network is physically laid out. That is, for wired networks, being of broadcast type stems from the network's topology, and its size is not a factor necessarily.
By extension, my belief is that you can mix and match sizes and topology at will within physical constraints.
Am I right?
Or, is there something else going on that I'm missing that would explain why LANs are almost always broadcast?
Thanks.
I'm familiar with the acronyms LAN, MAN, and WAN. My understanding is that these terms refer to the size of the network: small (the size of a room, building, or university campus), medium (the size of a city), and large (country size).
However, I've been reading about networks lately and have come across text that suggests that LANs are mostly (or all) broadcast networks. I thought that whether or not a network was broadcast had to do with its topology and didn't have anything to do necessarily with its size.
For example, a network that sends signals down some central trunk that all nodes tap into, like the old cable TV system, would be a broadcast network. Or anything wireless would be broadcast (obviously).
So, now I'm a little confused.
My understanding is that all wireless networks are broadcast by default. Further, whether or not a wired network is broadcast stems from how the network is physically laid out. That is, for wired networks, being of broadcast type stems from the network's topology, and its size is not a factor necessarily.
By extension, my belief is that you can mix and match sizes and topology at will within physical constraints.
Am I right?
Or, is there something else going on that I'm missing that would explain why LANs are almost always broadcast?
Thanks.
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