Really need some help with this 'research' work given by me teacher. I have been given a set of questions and my teacher has told me to research for the answers... it is really hard an all I came up with is this.

Access

LAN – Lan can be accessed from small network, e.g local area.
WAN – WAN can be accessed through a remote area, e.g city to city, state to state.

Describe and compare the following LAN protocols:

Medium access control protocols - The Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol is used to provide the data link layer of the Ethernet LAN system. It provides addressing and channel access control mechanisms that make it possible for several terminals or network nodes to communicate within a multipoint network, typically a local area network (LAN).

TCP/IP - TCP is one of the main protocols in TCP/IP networks. Whereas the IP protocol deals only with packets, TCP enables two hosts to establish a connection and exchange streams of data. TCP guarantees delivery of data and also guarantees that packets will be delivered in the same order in which they were sent. MAC therefore has wider data transfer compared to TCP/IP.

1. Describe how WANs facilitate the remote sharing of:

Programs
Programs can be accessed through wan from one computer to another. For example, remote office computer can access the programs from another computer through wan.
Peripherals
Peripherals such as printers can be accessible to users from remote offices. For example remote offices from another area can access the printer all at once.

2. Describe and compare the following WAN technologies:(I have described but not yet compared)

ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network is a network communications method for homes and small organizations. E.g. voice, data, and video transfer over plain copper telephone lines. One time cost is lower than one time cost for frame replay but the monthly charges are more expensive compared to frame relay

Packet switching - Packet switching is a network communications method that groups all transmitted data, irrespective of content, type, or structure into suitably-sized blocks, called packets.

Frame relay - Frame relay is a packet switching technology. It will operate in the data link layer.

ATM - ATM is Packet Switching or Cell switching. ATM combines both circuit and packet switching methods into one flexible technology that makes for simple network processing functions. ATM is a high-speed network technology that supports the transportation of voice, data, and video signals over a single stream.

3. Describe how data compression and encryption is performed to facilitate data transfer across WANs.

It is required to reduce the size of data by using compression algorithms, and also to reduce or even to suppress the capability of other users in the network of looking, reading and understanding the data by using encryption algorithms. Encryption may use the benefits of the compression to reduce the capability to unlock the encryption by reducing the predictability. <--Need to add more detail to compression and encryption


I would really appreciate some help with these questions... I've researched for quite awhile... but I can't seem to get the right information. Thanks

Wikipedia.org has fairly in-depth articles on all these topics. Have you visited Wikipedia?

And, I take issue with your following statements:

"MAC therefore has wider data transfer compared to TCP/IP." - Huh?

"One time cost is lower than one time cost for frame replay but the monthly charges are more expensive compared to frame relay." - Cost is location dependent. One cannot make such generalizations.

The information I got are from the internet as the work is open booked, and yes I have visited Wiki, some of the researched information I got are from Wiki.

I am not good/smart with networking so there maybe some important information that I have passed through and missed out while reading some articles.

I am am still going through my researched information, so I will fix any errors.

No more help allowed. I received an update and need to do the research on my own...

Good luck.

Thank You.