Propagation delay is one of the biggest problems faced by WAN.

WAN’s data rate is slow about a 10th LAN’s speed, since it involves increased distance and increased number of servers and terminals etc. Speeds of WAN ranges from few kilobits per second (Kbps) to megabits per second (Mbps). Propagation delay is one of the biggest problems faced here. Devices used for transmission of data through WAN are: Optic wires, Microwaves and Satellites. Example of a Switched WAN is the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network and Point-to-Point WAN is dial-up line that connects a home computer to the Internet.