Computer Dictionary - What LAN Means

A plain English explanation of the computer term LAN or Local Area Network - the explanation is for basic computer users and may be too detailed for more advanced users. My goal is to help people understand technology with a focus on the ones who need my help the most. If you think I take too long with my lesson, remember that not everyone picks things up as quickly as you and they have no reason to feel bad about it. :)

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Closed Caption:

hi this is worth got 10 worth gone when
dot com
in this video I am going to answer a
question that was submitted to me by
one of my newsletter subscribers and %ah
he asked me
what is lawn what is Gigabit
lawn and I can explain what his computer
germs are
and arm help you understand it
and understand your computer so
are what is the lawn well lawn
first of its taurus it she is short for
local area network which you don't need
to memorize are local area network
basically
a network is just simply when you have
two or more computers that are hooked up
to each other
there networked together so it's just
like when people network with each other
in business or however in whatever way
you wanna say
arm one where networking we're
connecting with each other
and we're sharing information were
talking and so forth essentially that's
what a computer is doing when its
network to another computer
now arm network actually does not
just mean at your house or an office
where you've got
two or more computers hooked up together
it actually includes the Internet the
entire internet
is a worldwide network computers that is
is generally made up of tons thousands
millions are these little individual
networks that are all connected
to each other arm any World Wide Web
if you will arm so basically
I'll lawn is a local area network
so it's a network that restricted to
home
or two in office and thats
as opposed to the internet which is a
non local network if you will
now basically on
most computers that were made last
quite a few years now are most of them
have
a network port built into them it is
something it's also sometimes called the
Ethernet controller
and I are basically this cable here
this is a
Ethernet cable now if we look at it you
actually notice
it looks an awful lot like a phone jack
phone connector and in fact it is very
similar and the technical term for this
type connector is an rj-45
of phone is an rj-11 and essentially
it's just it looks
really just like a phone cord is just a
little wider at the end
and what that does is Actos into the
back your computer
and then it plugs into something like
this this is what's called and
Ethernet hub and Dom
it plus plugs in here take in the
tabloids
into the other end plugs into your
computer
or it might plug into something called
the router now this is not a router
it looks very much like a router but a
router is such a short look hard
but with extra components inside arm and
it's something I've explained in a
separate video
so basically this is Alanna this is a
wired
on network connection you also of course
have wireless internet connections are
extremely common these days
wifi in other words and Dom basically
wireless internet is just another kind
of
local area network and you have most of
them are in fact
mixed both wired and wireless
and you may be using one or he may be
using both part to that network
but it's all part of one network it's
all part of one land
Wireless Lamoreaux wired land and so on
that's pretty much it I mean it's really
just it's not a very complicated concept
it's just
when you've got more than one computer
hooked together its and their networks
even when you have a single connection
computer connected to the internet
it still network it's just into the
global network that's known as the
internet
as opposed to a local area network Orlan
are and as far as Gigabit land
well that's just a measurement the speed
of the plan
arm basically speaking
what see this harbor yes this one are
actually this is actually this is a
switch this is very similar to harbors a
little more sophisticated but its
more losses in concepts not worry about
that it's a side issue
so this is labeled here 10 slash 100
so what that means is it goes at 10
megabits per second that's million bits
per second it's just a measurement speed
and don't worry about what that means
exactly
just think I've in terms of relative
speeds so we've got
10 megabits per second or
100 megabits per second okay so
obviously
100 megabits per second is ten times
faster than 10 megabits per second
10 megabit per second lawn is actually
pretty old
I had to stick around for a while and
arm
the thats it's an older and slower
network speed
arm most wireless routers and wired
routers that you buy these days are
going to be at least a 100 megabit per
second
our connection arm some other more them
as time goes by are faster and a gigabit
Ethernet connection or lawn connection
is ten times faster than a 100 megabit
per second
in 2000 megabits per second Gigabit
approximately I'm rounding slightly
someone might be synced thinking this
right now
hey it's exactly it's not exactly but
yes close enough
that we're trying to go with simple
concept here so basically
10 megabits per second that's ten
a hundred and then a thousand is a
gigabit and soul
arm how does that you now question you
might be wondering is do I
you know are you gonna get a benefit out
of getting the Game Commission you
spring for those for the Gigabit
land connection Gigabit Ethernet
connection
well arm probably does not really going
to be a big reason for you to do so
now I have in my house I have physically
wired
a Gigabit Ethernet connection through
while network to this entire house
I did that because I record videos like
this a lot and I would like
a very easy way to move my videos
between May computers
quickly easily and I don't wanna have to
I'd like it to go ten times faster than
on a magnetic per second because
when we're talking about very large
videos that make serbian
it makes a difference however
arm the thing you gotta realize is that
the majority
have internet connections at this time
in the United States at least we're
actually
unfortunately we we lag way behind
internet connection speeds
overseas om South
Korea for example the average speed i
think is
are 5 to
what is it 5-2 I 20 times faster than
the average Internet connection speed
here in the United States
our last time I checked the statistics
are typically most
internet connection speeds around here
are going to be around 5 megabits per
second
yes you heard me right 5 Andrew browsing
how this
the old slow version 10 megabits per
second that slow
your 5 megabits per second you only get
happen that most internet connections
so it doesn't matter what's been your
lawn is particularly because
its always from most people's use anyway
because it's always going to be faster
than your internet speed
if you got multiple computers sharing it
well most in here are you gonna get
anyways gonna be
just fine it's gonna be faster than 10
anyway it's going to be 100 megabits per
second
possibly faster depending arm but do you
really need to spend extra to get a
gigabit
probably not only if you have the only
time you really get to take advantage
above the water even the 100 megabits
per second speed
is if you were moving files from one
computer to another
back and forth over the lawn that's
where you get that speed im
increase it's it's essentially if you
think a bit like a car speed limit in a
car
the internet speed is the road speed
your car might be able to go faster than
that
my bill to go 120 miles per hour but if
the speed limit is only 30
you're not driving Pat Muir while in
this year drug much rationalizing it
stopped
in this case its actual physical speed
limit its
Eagle it's not just the whole law that
you could theoretically get away with
breaking or something but Dom it's a
literal
EP imposed actual limit so arm
basically that's what elaine is arm land
or Gigabit lawn
these were just ways of connecting your
computer to other computers
it could be through a Ethernet cable
like this one
pulled up into a switch or router or
something like that
are or could be wirelessly using wifi
and I've explained in other lessons I
explain one wifi is and how it works
I also explain arm what's a-arm
I'll what a router is and how that works
and are sold I will all leave it at that
and if you are not yet a subscriber to
my newsletter I strongly recommend that
you go to work
got one dot com W or th geo DWI and dot
com in sign up for that is free
and arm so I hope that makes sense
and that are
helped you understand computers better
image also I hope you have a great day
talk to you later