# Q3A · LAN, MAN, PAN, WAN, ARPANET

Subject: Computer Networks

Exam: TEE

Reader: https://deep-learning-study-room.vercel.app/cn/#tee/papers/tee-paper-final/q3a

Canonical: https://deep-learning-study-room.vercel.app/read/cn/tee/papers/tee-paper-final--q3a/

TEE · Actual TEE paper · all questions · current syllabus 702AI0C023

### Actual PYQ · Q3A. Explain the following: (a) LAN (b) MAN (c) PAN (d) WAN (e) ARPANET. [5 marks]

#### Answer

| Type | Meaning and scope | Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| PAN | Personal Area Network: a person’s nearby devices | Phone linked to earbuds |
| LAN | Local Area Network: a building or local campus network under local administration | Laboratory Ethernet/Wi-Fi |
| MAN | Metropolitan Area Network: interconnects sites across a town/city | City-wide institutional network |
| WAN | Wide Area Network: connects geographically separated networks over regional/global links | Branches in different cities |
| ARPANET | Historical packet-switched research network; a major predecessor of the Internet | Early interconnected research institutions; not a modern geographic size category |

#### Practical example

A local campus LAN can connect through a WAN to other campuses. ARPANET is a historical packet network, not another name for a modern LAN.

Source: Final · 5 December 2025, original question paper page 2. Original marks retained; solution independently authored.