The Internet is a wide area network, or WAN, which is different from a LAN. In contrast to the term Internet, local area networks are often called Intranets, though sometimes this term refers to a bunch of LANs connected with a particular company or organization but not connected to the larger Internet. A local area network uses a hub or router to connect computers together. The means of communication is the omnipresent Ethernet cable or wireless Wi-Fi technology. These technologies offer data transfer rates running between 10 to 10,000 Mbit/s.