Editing Wide area network (section)

==Connection technology==
Many technologies are available for wide area network links. Examples include [[circuit-switched]] telephone lines, [[radio wave]] transmission, and [[optical fiber]]. New developments have successively increased transmission rates. In {{circa|1960}}, a {{val|110|ul=bit/s}} line was normal on the edge of the WAN, while core links of 56 or 64&nbsp;kbit/s were considered fast. Today, households are connected to the Internet with [[dial-up]], [[asymmetric digital subscriber line]] (ADSL), [[Cable Internet access|cable]], [[WiMAX]], [[cellular network]] or [[Fiber-optic communication|fiber]]. The speeds that people can currently use range from 28.8&nbsp;kbit/s through a 28K [[modem]] over a telephone connection to speeds as high as 100&nbsp;Gbit/s using [[100 Gigabit Ethernet]].

The following communication and networking technologies have been used to implement WANs.
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* [[Asynchronous Transfer Mode]]
* [[Cable modem]]
* [[Cellular network]]s<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=2832405&seqNum=5 | title=Selecting a WAN Technology (1.2) > WAN Concepts &#124; Cisco Press }}</ref>
* [[Dial-up internet]]
* [[Digital subscriber line]]
* [[Fiber-optic communication]]
* [[Frame Relay]]
* [[ISDN]]
* [[Leased line]]
* [[Software-defined networking#SD-WAN|SD-WAN]]
* [[Synchronous optical networking]]
* [[Very small aperture terminal]] (VSAT)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=2832405&seqNum=5 | title=Selecting a WAN Technology (1.2) > WAN Concepts &#124; Cisco Press }}</ref>
*[[Wi-Fi]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=2832405&seqNum=5 | title=Selecting a WAN Technology (1.2) > WAN Concepts &#124; Cisco Press }}</ref>
*[[WiMAX]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=2832405&seqNum=5 | title=Selecting a WAN Technology (1.2) > WAN Concepts &#124; Cisco Press }}</ref>
* [[X.25]]
{{div col end}}

AT&T conducted trials in 2017 for business use of [[400-gigabit Ethernet]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://about.att.com/story/att_completes_industry_leading_ethernet_testing.html |title=AT&T Completes Industry-Leading 400 Gb Ethernet Testing, Establishing A Future Network Blueprint for Service Providers and Businesses |website=www.att.com |date=September 8, 2017 |access-date=August 20, 2018 |archive-date=January 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105095752/https://about.att.com/story/att_completes_industry_leading_ethernet_testing.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Researchers Robert Maher, Alex Alvarado, Domaniç Lavery, and Polina Bayvel of [[University College London]] were able to increase networking speeds to 1.125 terabits per second.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Increasing the information rates of optical communications via coded modulation: a study of transceiver performance |first1=Robert |last1=Maher |first2=Alex |last2=Alvarado |first3=Domaniç |last3=Lavery |first4=Polina|last4=Bayvel|date=11 February 2016 |journal=Scientific Reports|volume=6|issue=1|pages=21278 |doi=10.1038/srep21278|pmid=26864633|pmc=4750034|bibcode=2016NatSR...621278M }}</ref> Christos Santis, graduate student Scott Steger, Amnon Yariv, Martin and Eileen Summerfield developed a new laser that potentially quadruples transfer speeds with fiber optics.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.caltech.edu/news/new-laser-faster-internet-42090|title=A New Laser for a Faster Internet - Caltech|date=19 February 2014 |publisher=Cal Tech|access-date=2017-02-05|archive-date=2017-05-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511203500/http://www.caltech.edu/news/new-laser-faster-internet-42090|url-status=live}}</ref>