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A network consists of a LAN and WAN, with a WAN port on a router connecting the two. A typical home router has one WAN and four LAN ports, with the WAN port receiving information from the internet and filtering it through the router’s firewall and routing system. The LAN ports allow for communication between connected computers, and multiple routers can be connected together to create independent internal networks.
Most networks consist of two main areas: the local area network (LAN) and the wide area network (WAN). A LAN is your internal network, whether it’s a house with two computers or a skyscraper with thousands of offices. The WAN is the network outside the LAN; these are both other internal networks and the entire Internet. A WAN port is the portal through which information passes back and forth between the LAN and the WAN.
Most users will find a WAN port on a network router. A typical home router has one WAN port and four LAN ports. Some routers call them uplinks (for WAN port) and wired connections (for LAN ports). This port receives information from a high-speed Internet source, such as a cable modem, and splits it across multiple machines within your home network. While most home routers have four LAN ports, there can be as few as zero or an unlimited number, though rarely more than eight.
These five ports all appear as rectangular holes on the back of the device. Each of them is designed to have a network cable attached. The WAN port is usually set apart from the other ports for easy identification, but otherwise looks the same as the LAN ports.
The important difference between the two port types is within the router. The WAN port receives information from the external network or the Internet. The information is filtered through the router’s internal firewall and routing system. Then the information is sent to the appropriate LAN port or via a wireless connection to a wireless source.
In addition to routing and firewall capabilities, routers also include switching functions. This allows computers connected via LAN ports to communicate only with each other. This switching feature bypasses the router’s standard firewall and the computers are all on the same network. Users can use this feature to connect multiple routers together to increase the size of their network.
If they were to connect multiple routers together using the WAN port, they could have multiple internal networks operating independently of each other. For example, high speed information arrives at a single router and that router then has connections from its LAN ports to three other routers where it connects to their WAN ports. These internal networks would contain independent information and would have no more links to each other than they would to a network in a different building.
