Types of Wireless Network

• WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Network) 
• Wireless LAN 
• Wireless metropolitan-area network (WMAN) 
• Wireless WAN 

WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Network) :

• Within reach of a person
• The range is short—about 20 feet. 
• Eight active devices 
• Unlicensed 2.4-GHz spectrum 
• E.g : Bluetooth 
• Standards: IEEE 802.15

Wireless LAN

• WLANs are designed for a larger area than that of a WPAN. These can scale from very small home offices to large enterprise networks.
• 2.4-GHz or 5-GHz spectrum.
• A larger range than a WPAN—close to 100 meters from AP to client.
• To achieve further distance, more power output is required.
• WLANs are very flexible, so more than eight active devices/clients are expected, unlike a WPAN.
• e,g A mix of dual-band wireless access points, laptops, and desktops in a WLAN. 
• Standards: IEEE 802.11

Wireless metropolitan-area network (WMAN):

• Covers a large geographic area
• Within a city
• Speeds decrease as the distance increases.
• Most well-known is WiMax(802.16b).
• Used as a backbone, point-to-point, or point-to-multipoint that can be a replacement for technologies such as T1 and T3
• WiMax is an excellent solution where facilities or distance are a limitation where DSL and cable connection not possible.
• Standards:IEEE 802.16

Wireless WAN:

• A wireless wide-area network (WWAN) covers a large geographic area 
• Low data rates
• WWANs usually are very expensive to deploy
• The most widely deployed WWAN technologies are Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
• E.g Your cell service (Voice and Data) 
• Standards:Cellular 2G, 2.5G, 3G and 4G