A WAN is a collection of interconnected and geographically disparate nodes. Often, the major distinction between a LAN and a WAN is the use of some form of high-speed media to interconnect the nodes. Such media includes microwave, satellite, and telecommunications connections. WAN is a very general term that is often applied to collections of LANs and other WANs as well as collections of nodes. One example is the Internet, which is frequently described as a WAN_in fact, the Internet interconnects both LANs and WANs.