Wide Area Network ( WAN ) A WAN spans a large geographic area, such as a state, province or country. WANs often connect multiple smaller networks, such as LANs or MANs.

The most popular WAN in the world today is the Internet. Many smaller portions of the Internet, such as extranets, are also WANs. WANs generally utilize different and much more expensive networking equipment than do LANs. Technologies sometimes found in WANs include SONET, frame relay, and ATM.