Unit 3.4 - Connectivity Methods

Question 1

LAN - Local Area Network

Answer 1

Located on one site and owned by one organisation. Typically used by a school or business.
ADV - can share peripherals like expensive laser printers.
DIS - Networks are difficult to set up and need to be maintained by skilled technicians.

Question 2

WAN - Wide Area Network

Answer 2

A computer network in which the computers connected may be far apart, generally having a radius of more than 1 km.
ADV - Scale of sharing can be much wider - can even be world-wide!
DIS - Hackers can break into the network from anywhere in the world, rather than in the building.

Question 3

MAN - Metropolitan Area Network

Answer 3

An interconnection of networks in a city. Generally, MANs are not owned by a single organization. It acts as a high speed network to allow sharing resources within a city.
ADV - Provides a good backbone for large networks.
DIS - Difficult to make system secure from hackers.

Question 4

Satellite

Answer 4

A satellite is a machine placed in space orbit in order to carry out some specific tasks: Communication, Television broadcasting, Navigation etc.
ADV - Mobile communication can be easily established by satellite communication.
DIS - Repair of satellite is almost impossible, once it has been launched.

Question 5

PSTN - Voice

Answer 5

PSTN stands for Public Switched Telephone Network.
This is the basic public telephone network which connects every telephone in the UK. It was once only an analogue system but is gradually being changed over to digital.

Question 6

Cellular - Voice

Answer 6

a mobile telephone system that uses a number of short-range radio stations to cover the area that it serves, the signal being automatically switched from one station to another as the user travels about.
ADV - Always connected e.g: With a mobile phone, you are connected to the internet throughout.
DIS - Between talks there is a time gap > reduces efficiency of satellite in data transmission.