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A+ Core 1 · CompTIA 220-1201 V15 · Objective 2.7

Compare and contrast internet connection types, network types, and their characteristics

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Objective 2.7: Compare and contrast internet connection types, network types, and their characteristics

Cert: CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201) V15 Domain: 2.0 Networking Weight: ~23% of Core 1 Depth: Compare and contrast. Match connection types to scenarios and recognize network type acronyms.

What this objective tests

You should know the common internet connection types (satellite, fiber, cable, DSL, cellular, WISP) and their typical speed and latency characteristics. You should also know the network type acronyms (LAN, WAN, PAN, MAN, SAN, WLAN) and what each refers to.

Key facts

Internet connection types:

  • Satellite. Internet from geostationary or low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellites. Older geostationary satellite has high latency (500+ ms). Modern LEO services (Starlink, OneWeb) are much faster and lower latency. Useful where wired service is unavailable.
  • Fiber (FTTH, FTTP). Fiber-optic internet to the premises. Highest speeds (gigabit common, multi-gig available). Symmetric upload/download in many plans. Low latency. The modern standard where available.
  • Cable. Internet over the cable TV coaxial network (DOCSIS). High download speeds, slower upload. Widely available. Shared bandwidth in the neighborhood, so peak-hour slowdowns happen.
  • DSL (Digital Subscriber Line). Internet over telephone lines. Slower than cable or fiber. Speed degrades with distance from the central office. Largely being replaced by fiber and cable.
  • Cellular. Internet via 4G LTE or 5G cellular networks. Used in phones, hotspots, fixed wireless plans, and as a primary internet for remote locations. Data caps and signal coverage are the constraints.
  • WISP (Wireless Internet Service Provider). Internet delivered via fixed wireless from a tower to a customer-premises antenna. Common in rural areas. Performance depends on line of sight to the tower.

Network types:

  • LAN (Local Area Network). A network limited to a single building or campus. Most office networks are LANs.
  • WAN (Wide Area Network). A network spanning a large geographic area, often connecting multiple LANs. The internet is the biggest WAN. Corporate networks linking offices in different cities are WANs.
  • PAN (Personal Area Network). Very short-range network around a single person. Bluetooth peripherals connected to a phone form a PAN.
  • MAN (Metropolitan Area Network). A network covering a city or metro area. Some universities and municipal networks are MANs.
  • SAN (Storage Area Network). A high-speed dedicated network connecting servers to storage arrays. Uses protocols like Fibre Channel or iSCSI. Found in data centers, not office networks.
  • WLAN (Wireless LAN). A LAN where some or all clients connect via Wi-Fi. Modern offices are usually a WLAN extended by a wired LAN backbone.

Common gotchas

  • Cable upload limits. Cable plans often advertise the download speed prominently. Upload is much slower (a 300 Mbps down plan might offer only 10-20 Mbps up). This matters for video conferencing, cloud backup, and remote desktop.
  • Geostationary satellite latency. Even at gigabit speeds, geostationary satellite has ~500-600 ms round-trip latency because the signal travels to a satellite 35,786 km up and back. Bad for real-time gaming, voice, and remote desktop. LEO satellites (Starlink) reduce this dramatically (~20-40 ms).
  • DSL distance limits. DSL speed depends on the physical distance to the central office. The same DSL plan can give different speeds at different addresses.
  • Cellular as primary internet. Increasingly viable with 5G but data caps still apply. A small office on cellular as the primary should monitor data usage carefully.
  • WAN vs LAN confusion. A multi-site corporate network is a WAN even if each site has a LAN. WAN is the connection between sites, not the sites themselves.
  • SAN vs NAS confusion. SAN provides block-level storage over a dedicated network. NAS provides file-level storage over the regular network. They are different architectures.

Real-world context

For typical Revtek customer recommendations:

  • Primary internet. Fiber if available, cable otherwise. Both with sufficient upload for the business workflow (video calls, backup, remote desktop).
  • Backup internet (failover). Cellular failover via a router with dual WAN ports, or a separate LTE/5G modem. Keeps the business online during a primary outage.
  • Rural customers. Starlink or WISP where wired service is poor or unavailable.
  • Branch office to HQ. Site-to-site VPN over the public internet for most SMBs. Higher-end customers use dedicated WAN connections (MPLS, point-to-point fiber, SD-WAN).

Common helpdesk and consultation calls:

  • "Why is my upload so slow?" Cable plan with asymmetric speeds. Upgrade to a fiber plan or higher cable tier.
  • "Why does my Zoom keep cutting out?" Could be latency (satellite) or upload bandwidth (cable). Run a speed test in both directions.
  • "Can we use cellular for the new office?" Depends on coverage, data caps, and use patterns. Often a great backup; sometimes acceptable as primary; rarely the best primary if wired alternatives exist.

Sources

  • [CompTIA A+ 220-1201 Exam Objectives Version 4.0, Section 2.7](../../../../../../30-RevyTechJourney/CompTIA%20A%2B%20220-1201%20Exam%20Objectives%20%284.0%29.pdf)
  • [Wikipedia: Local area network](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_area_network)
  • [Wikipedia: Wide area network](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_area_network)
  • [Wikipedia: Personal area network](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_area_network)
  • [Wikipedia: Metropolitan area network](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_area_network)
  • [Wikipedia: Storage area network](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storage_area_network)
  • [Wikipedia: Wireless LAN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_LAN)
  • [Wikipedia: Internet access](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_access)
  • [Wikipedia: DOCSIS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS)
  • [Wikipedia: Fiber to the x](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_to_the_x)