Wireless Wide Area Networks for School Districts National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities

Network connectivity issues daunt school districts around the country. Schools need affordable, expandable computer networks that are resistant to obsolescence. But should these networks employ wireless technology, stick to venerable hard-wired solutions, or combine both? A wide area network (WAN) is a communications network utilizing devices such as telephone lines, satellite dishes, antennas, and microwaves to span a larger geographic area than can be covered by a local area network (LAN). Typically, a WAN consists of two or more LANs. A metropolitan area network, or MAN, is a term sometimes used to describe a system that falls somewhere between a WAN and LAN and combines some of the features of both.