Local Area Networks Explained – With Examples

Last updated on October 20th, 2025 at 06:39 am

I’ll be straight with you here, I didn’t pay all that much attention to Local Area Networks until my own home network began moving at dial-up speeds. One week everything was great, the next week I couldn’t even stream a video without it buffering every 10 seconds. That’s when I fell down the rabbit hole of figuring out what a LAN even is, and how it lives in real life.

What’s That Thing, a Local Area Network?

A Local Area Network (LAN) is essentially how your devices can communicate with each other in a small area like your home, office or school campus. These networks link devices in such places as homes, offices and schools so they can share files, printers and internet connections at speeds usually from 100 megabits per second to 1 gigabit per second or faster.

So when I was having problems with my network, I discovered that I had about 15 connected devices: laptops, phones, smart TV, game console and even the fridge (thanks IoT). All competing for bandwidth from the same network.

Some Real-World LAN Examples I Saw Once Upon a Time

Here’s where it got interesting. There are all kind of LANs we’ve got wired Ethernet arrangements that connect devices with copper cabling for the best possible connection, and wireless ones (WLANs) that connect via Wi-Fi for convenience and portability.

My home rig was a hybrid nightmare. Computer hooked up to the fucking router with an Ethernet cord (Fast and steady) but everything else on that Wi-Fi. The problem? My router was sitting in a corner, and half my devices had feeble signals.

Office networks are different beasts. Most office environments use star topology which mean each device is connected to a central switch so network connections are isolated except for the centre point, if one link goes down, the rest still work. It stands to reason when you have an entourage of 50 who can’t let time off the clock.

I also explored how hospitals segment medical devices, patient records and guest Wi-Fi networks using VLANs to improve security and performance. Good call you wouldn’t want someone streaming Netflix on the same network as life-support machines.

Here Is What Was Really Slowing My Network Down

I dug around a bit on forums and even did some testing, and came up with the criminals. Congestion on the network can be cause by too many devices to share bandwidth, ineffective subnet management does not organize traffic appropriately, or out-of-date hardware causes clogs in traffic.

My five-year-old router apparently couldn’t handle the load. Also, I had devices spread out on a single network with no order. All of it was yelling for attention simultaneously.

How I Fixed It (And You Can, Too)

The first thing I did: enabled Quality of Service (QoS) on my router to prioritize work calls and streaming over background downloads, upgraded to a newer router with better capacity and began tracking which devices were consuming bandwidth.

Game changer? ​VLANs helped segment the network to contain traffic and alleviate congestion. I split my work machines from smart home devices. Suddenly, my Zoom calls weren’t dropping when someone flipped on the robot vacuum.

For the home office, I got an Ethernet cable out here. Yes, it’s 2025 and I’m still on the wires but wired LANs are faster, more reliable and more secure than wireless networks. That makes them perfect for bandwidth-intensive workloads. My video uploads dropped from 20 minutes to five.

The Cool Tech !

In the course of doing that research, I stumbled upon some next-level nonsense. Wi-Fi 7 revolutionizes networks with:- 4096QAM modulation to enable speeds up to 20% faster- New superset of features to increase throughput and range such as Multi-Link Operations, which simultaneously sends data across multiple frequency bands for increased performance enhancements- Support for 320 MHz channels that double the number of Wi-Fi 6 streams for Double the Capacity from Wi-Fi 6.

Most consumer routers don’t even have that yet, but it’s on the way. For now, Wi-Fi 6 does the trick for anyone who isn’t operating a small data center from their basement.

There’s also AI-powered network automation, which leverages machine learning to anticipate interruptions before they occur, adjust performance on the fly and remediate issues without you having to raise a finger. It sounds like something out of science fiction, but enterprise networks are already doing it.

What I Wish I Had Known When I Began

So before we unpack how to speed up a slow LAN it would make sense to start with the following Devices use excessive bandwidth Too many devices attached on one connection – network congestion Old Switches/Routers are causing performance issues. My biggest takeaway here was that you can only have 1,2 and 3 of those in your home or office.

Check your router’s admin panel. See what’s connected. You’ll likely see gadgets you’ve forgotten about that are still sucking bandwidth.

On a side note, IP address conflicts can kill your connection when 2 devices have been assigned the same IP (and this most often occurs with static ips that conflict with DHCP ranges). I solved my problem by allowing the router to automatically assign all IP addresses.

The research showed me that LANs aren’t only for big business sharing resources and collaboration increase efficiency in both homes and small businesses, as well reducing cost of peripherals that would have to be dedicated to a decentralised system,and provides some security when your network is properly controlled.

I went from annoyed to intrigued. My network works and now I know why.

FAQs About Local Area Networks

What equipment should I REALLY have for a simple LAN?

Your home will need a router, which allows you to connect to the internet switches, which allow you to connect multiple devices all together at the same time Ethernet-enabled devices (in some cases they may already be built in) and Ethernet cables.

Will I still be able work if the internet isn’t available?

Yes- computers on your LAN can still talk to each other, and share files and local printers without Internet access. The router only connects you to networks outside your home.

Wireline versus wireless?

Go with wired Ethernet for stationary devices that require max speed and reliability use wireless for laptops and mobile devices where it’s really difficult to run cables. Most people do both.