Ok this might be a dumb question, but..

I want to setup a wired and wireless connection. For w/e reason vista won't let me setup an adhoc network SO i need to buy a wifi router. two questions, will a gateway prevent a wifi router to send out a signal, and can I connect directly to the router for a direct connection while allowing someone else to connect to it wirelessly?

Thank you

 

You can connect to the router/modem through wired and wireless simultaneously (at least I could with the 4 modems I have had in the past, even cheap-branded ones).

Not sure what you mean by gateway. Is your objective to have a home network without actually connecting to the Internet?

 

I don't really understand your question. If you want a wired and wireless router, just buy a wired and wireless router. Once you buy it, follow its instructions and just plug your wired computer into the router and set your wireless computer to look for a wireless signal, yours.

 

to my understanding, you have an existing cable/dsl gateway (all-in-one unit) and want to add a wireless router to it? if my guess is right, then you need to set the wireless router as an access point while the gateway remains as a modem.

 

Ok I live in a dorm if that helps, and all the computers connect through a gateway first then through the internet, the gateway looks like a small router, my friend has actually done it herself, I just wanted to make sure.

 

First, I think everyone's getting a little hazy on just exactly what a "Gateway" is in internet terminology - according to the Wiki article on network gateways, a "gateway" is any node (i.e., device) attached to a particular network that has the capability to interface with different network protocols, and that connects the network it's on to one or more other networks.

So, the first piece of equipment that your computer physically attaches to may, or may not, be the "gateway" device in your particular subnet.

That being said, somewhere on the network you connect to is a gateway that mediates the connection between your school's internal subnetwork and the rest of the universe (i.e., the internet). In your case, the "gateway" on your school's network is probably a separate computer (or computers) that all traffic passes through, inbound and outbound.

Now, to get to your original question: no, generally speaking, a device that is acting as a "gateway" is not going to prevent a wifi router from broadcasting it's radio signals (i.e., the wifi signal).

However, all is not roses and wine, because the sysadmins on your school's network will almost certainly be able to detect the fact that a router - whether wireless or not - has been connected to their network. Now, the point to keep in mind here is, most sysadmins have a pathological hatred of unauthorized devices being attached to their networks, and they may very well be able to deny your router's access to the network by refusing to assign an IP address to the router (without which, the router cannot receive or send IP packets). Even worse, attaching an unauthorized device may violate your school's IT policies, and could result in disciplinary action.

So, if you want to hook your own wireless router into your school's network, you had better make sure that doing so is permitted by your school's IT policies, and you'd better let the sysadmins know what you're doing.

In terms of why _Vista won't "let you" set up an adhoc network, that may be because your wireless card is already set up to work in infrastructure mode, and thus cannot be used to participate in an adhoc network at the same time (for that, you'd need a second wireless card, and would then have to bridge the two cards so that the adhoc network and the infrastructure network could work together).

 

Cool just wanted to know it would work, and yes multiple people have wireless routers connected to the network because when I log on I see like 12 everytime, of course all are pass protected.