Computer Networks · Class 12 · Types of Networks
networksnetwork types⏱️ 5 min read
PAN — Personal Area Network
Put in wireless earbuds and press play on your phone. Without thinking about it, you have just built the smallest kind of network there is.
1What a PAN is
PAN
A Personal Area Network (PAN) connects the devices of one person, close to them — within about 10 metres.
The devices in a PAN are the ones you carry or keep near you: a phone, earbuds, a smartwatch, a laptop, a speaker, a printer on your desk.
Carry the speaker away
Drag the slider to walk the Bluetooth speaker away from the phone.
2How the devices connect
🔵 Bluetooth
The most common. Earbuds, watches, speakers, keyboards.
📶 Hotspot
Your phone shares its mobile data with your laptop over Wi-Fi.
🔌 USB cable
A phone plugged into a laptop to share files or internet.
So a PAN can be wireless or wired. What makes it a PAN is not the connection — it is that everything belongs to, and stays near, one person.
3Features of a PAN
- Covers a very small area — about 10 metres.
- Belongs to one person, who sets it up in seconds.
- Joins only a few devices.
- Cheap — the connection is built into the devices you already own.
4Check yourself
Quick Check
Which of these is a PAN?
Quick Check
The range of a PAN is about…