A typical network class has 3 standard host ID sizes: Class A (24bits), Class B (16bits) and Class C (8bits). But in practice, these standard sizes are not economical. For instance, a 24bits host ID is capable of supporting a maximum of 2²¹ (2,097,152) host IDs. With few of these IDs in use, the rest becomes wasted resources. With subnetting however, we get to go beyond the standard host ID sizes and determine our own desired sizes. The basic meaning of a subnetwork is as the name suggests; a type of a smaller network gotten from the division of a network. They are created with the use of masking, just that this time around, the Host IDs are tweaked. For instance, the standard network masking for the Class C network, 207.17.5.0 is 255.255.255.0. This will give 2²¹ network IDs and (2⁸ – 2) hosts. 255.255.255.0 as used here is standard, but with subnetting, we could use 255.255.255.244.