What's A WAN?

[muse5252]

I am so new to the internet. I have a business and is wondering about what's an access router, or as the article I read refer to a WAN. My understanding it makes your system more business interactive... Could you give me a brief definition in layman's term...and, if I need to consider utilizing whatever it is...I do have a on-line store business if that would help to determine if I need it or not. I presently use an e-commerce merchant, etc., Please advise...Thanks, :rolleyes:

[IanS]

I am so new to the internet. I have a business and is wondering about what's an access router, or as the article I read refer to a WAN. My understanding it makes your system more business interactive... Could you give me a brief definition in layman's term...and, if I need to consider utilizing whatever it is...I do have a on-line store business if that would help to determine if I need it or not. I presently use an e-commerce merchant, etc., Please advise...Thanks, :rolleyes:A WAN is a LAN over a wide area Wide Area Network, so in the simplest terms it is a local network linking remote sites. You would only need it if you have shops or businesses in many locations and want them to have shared access to private data or databases without using the internet.

[symo]

muse5252, Here are a couple of articles about routers and WAN vs. LAN

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/router.htm

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/ethernet2.htm

The site itself is How Stuff Works. It's mission is to explain things so that we laymen can make some sense of it.

HTH

symo

[muse5252]

Thanks!

[muse5252]

:) Thanks!

[csao]

I would recommend a LinkSys VPN router.

This way you can access your office from your home securely.