220-1201 Network Types — 15 Questions

Question 1

A city government wants to provide free public Wi-Fi in a downtown area spanning 2 square miles. The network must handle hundreds of simultaneous users and be accessible from streets and parks. Which network type is most appropriate for this deployment?

Accepted Answer

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN). A MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) is designed to cover a city-sized area, making it ideal for a public Wi-Fi zone. A LAN is too small, a WAN is too large and often not designed for public access in a small area, and a PAN is personal. The correct answer is MAN because it fits the downtown coverage requirement.

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Local Area Network (LAN)

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Wide Area Network (WAN)

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Personal Area Network (PAN)

Question 2

A user wants to wirelessly stream music from their smartphone to a Bluetooth speaker in the same room. Which network type is being used for this connection?

Accepted Answer

Personal Area Network (PAN). A PAN (Personal Area Network) is used for short-range connections between personal devices, such as Bluetooth speakers, headphones, or smartphones. LAN, WAN, and MAN are larger networks that are not designed for this immediate, device-to-device scenario.

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Local Area Network (LAN)

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Wide Area Network (WAN)

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Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

Question 3

A multinational corporation has offices in New York, London, and Tokyo. They need a private, dedicated network to connect all offices with high reliability and low latency. Which network type should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

Wide Area Network (WAN). A WAN (Wide Area Network) is the only network type that can connect offices across continents. A LAN is local, a MAN covers a city, and a PAN is personal. The correct answer is WAN because it spans global distances, often using leased lines or MPLS.

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Local Area Network (LAN)

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Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

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Personal Area Network (PAN)

Question 4

A small business wants to connect two separate office buildings that are 150 meters apart, with no existing data cabling between them. They need a reliable, high-speed connection without running new cables. Which type of network should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

Wide Area Network (WAN). A Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) or point-to-point wireless bridge is designed to connect two separate locations over a distance without physical cabling. This scenario describes a typical site-to-site wireless link, which is a form of WAN connection. PAN is for personal devices, LAN is for a single building, and MAN typically covers a city but often uses wired infrastructure.

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Personal Area Network (PAN)

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Local Area Network (LAN)

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Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

Question 5

A customer reports that their laptop can connect to the internet at home via Wi-Fi, but at a coffee shop it cannot connect to the guest network. They have not changed any settings. Which network type is most likely causing this issue?

Accepted Answer

Local Area Network (LAN). A PAN is a short-range network for personal devices like Bluetooth, and a LAN is a local network. A WAN is the internet itself. The issue is that the coffee shop's network may require a different authentication method, but the question is about network types: the laptop is trying to connect to a different LAN (the coffee shop's) than its home LAN. The correct answer is LAN because the coffee shop's guest network is a separate local area network.

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Personal Area Network (PAN)

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Wide Area Network (WAN)

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Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

Question 6

A user complains that their wireless mouse and keyboard stop working when they move more than 10 feet away from the computer. The devices use a USB dongle. Which network type is being used for these peripherals?

Accepted Answer

Personal Area Network (PAN). Wireless mice and keyboards typically use Bluetooth or proprietary RF, which are PAN technologies. PANs are designed for short-range (usually up to 10 meters or 33 feet) connections between personal devices. LAN, WAN, and MAN are larger networks not used for peripherals. The correct answer is PAN.

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Local Area Network (LAN)

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Wide Area Network (WAN)

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Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

Question 7

A technician is setting up a small office with five computers that need to share files and a printer. The office is in a single room, and no internet access is required yet. Which network type should be created?

Accepted Answer

Local Area Network (LAN). A LAN (Local Area Network) is designed for a small area like a single room or building to share resources among devices. A PAN is too limited for five computers, a WAN is for long distances, and a MAN is for a larger area. The correct answer is LAN because it fits the single-room, resource-sharing requirement.

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Personal Area Network (PAN)

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Wide Area Network (WAN)

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Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

Question 8

A company has two branch offices in different cities. They need to connect their LANs so employees can access resources at both locations securely over the internet. Which network type should be used?

Accepted Answer

Wide Area Network (WAN). A WAN (Wide Area Network) is designed to connect LANs across large geographic distances, such as between cities. A VPN over the internet is a common WAN implementation. A LAN is local, a MAN covers a city, and a PAN is personal. The correct answer is WAN because it spans cities.

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Local Area Network (LAN)

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Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

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Personal Area Network (PAN)

Question 9

A school district with five elementary schools spread across a city needs to connect each school's LAN to a central data center for internet access and shared resources. Which network type should connect the schools to the data center?

Accepted Answer

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN). A MAN is designed to connect multiple locations within a city or metropolitan area, making it ideal for a school district. A LAN is too limited to a single building, a WAN is for larger geographic areas (like across states), and a PAN is for personal devices. The correct answer is MAN because it covers the city-wide scope.

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Local Area Network (LAN)

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Wide Area Network (WAN)

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Personal Area Network (PAN)

Question 10

A hospital needs to connect multiple buildings across a large campus to share patient records and imaging data. The network must be private, high-speed, and cover the entire campus. Which network type should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN). A MAN is designed to cover a campus or city-sized area, providing high-speed connectivity between multiple buildings. A LAN is too limited to a single building, a WAN is for much larger distances (often across cities/countries), and a PAN is for personal devices. The hospital campus scenario fits a MAN.

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Local Area Network (LAN)

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Wide Area Network (WAN)

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Personal Area Network (PAN)

Question 11

A company deploys a network where each department has its own switch, and all switches connect to a central core switch. The network uses VLANs to separate traffic for finance, HR, and engineering. Which network type best describes the overall architecture, and what is a key characteristic?

Accepted Answer

Client-server LAN with VLAN segmentation; the core switch routes between VLANs.. This is a client-server LAN with a hierarchical design (access, distribution, core layers). VLANs logically segment traffic within the same physical LAN, improving security and performance. The core switch acts as a central server-like device, managing inter-VLAN routing. This architecture is typical in medium to large businesses.

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Peer-to-peer network; each department shares resources directly.

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Wide area network (WAN); the departments are in different locations.

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Metropolitan area network (MAN); the switches are spread across a city.

Question 12

A technician is setting up a temporary network for a conference where attendees' laptops need to share files directly without any central access point or router. The conference room has no existing network infrastructure. Which network type should be configured, and what is a potential security risk?

Accepted Answer

Ad hoc network; each laptop connects directly to others, but encryption may not be enforced.. This is an ad hoc network (also called IBSS in Wi-Fi), where devices connect directly to each other without an AP. The lack of central management makes security a concern, as each device must manage its own firewall and encryption. Ad hoc networks are useful for temporary peer-to-peer sharing but are less secure than infrastructure mode.

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Infrastructure mode WLAN; configure a laptop as a software access point.

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PAN network using Bluetooth; all laptops pair via Bluetooth.

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Mesh network; each laptop acts as a node forwarding traffic.

Question 13

A customer reports that their smart TV, which is connected to the home network via Wi-Fi, can stream video from the internet but cannot access media files stored on a wired desktop PC in the same home. The TV and PC are on the same IP subnet. Which network type is most likely being used, and why does this cause the issue?

Accepted Answer

Peer-to-peer network; the TV and PC may be in different workgroups or have disabled file sharing.. This scenario describes a peer-to-peer (P2P) network where devices communicate directly without a central server. The issue likely stems from the TV and PC using different workgroup names or file-sharing settings, which is common in P2P home networks. Understanding P2P vs. client-server helps troubleshoot local resource access problems.

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Client-server network; the TV cannot authenticate to the server.

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Mesh network; the TV is connected to a different mesh node that blocks local traffic.

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PAN network; the TV is using Bluetooth instead of Wi-Fi.

Question 14

A user complains that their laptop frequently disconnects from the Wi-Fi when they move from their desk to a conference room 30 meters away. The office uses a single wireless access point (AP). Which network type is being used, and what is the most likely cause of the disconnection?

Accepted Answer

Infrastructure mode WLAN; the AP's signal strength is insufficient at that distance.. This is an infrastructure mode wireless LAN (WLAN) where devices connect through a central AP. The disconnection is likely due to the AP's range limitation or signal interference. Infrastructure mode is standard for most office Wi-Fi, and range issues are common when moving away from the AP.

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Ad hoc network; the laptop is trying to connect directly to other devices.

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Mesh network; the laptop is roaming between mesh nodes.

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PAN network; the laptop is using Bluetooth, which has limited range.

Question 15

A small business owner wants to connect five computers in a single office so they can share files and a printer without purchasing a server. Which network type should be configured?

Accepted Answer

Peer-to-peer network. A peer-to-peer (P2P) network is ideal for small groups (typically fewer than 10 devices) where each computer can act as both client and server. It requires no dedicated server hardware, making it cost-effective for file and printer sharing. This contrasts with client-server networks that need a central server.

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Client-server network

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Wide area network (WAN)

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Metropolitan area network (MAN)