A WAN interface card, or WIC, is a specialized network interface card (NIC) that
allows devices to connect to a wide area network. (A NIC
provides the interface between a device and a local area network.) A WIC has a built-in Channel
Service Unit/Data Service Unit (CSU/DSU) interface that allows
the card to communicate with a router that is connected to a
WAN. The term is especially used in conjunction with hardware manufactured by Cisco Systems.
The typical WIC is a standard-size circuit card that fits into an expansion slot in the router.
WICs are available for plain old telephone service (POTS),
wireless networks, and proprietary wired networks. WICs are manufactured for use with all common
network protocols. Data speeds range from 56 kbps for dial-up connections to
the highest speeds supported by WANs. Modes include half-duplex, full-duplex, synchronous,
and bisynchronous.
This was last updated in April 2007
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