Vista - lap top + wireless router with no pc?

I have a wireless router that I had configured at my previous residence for my laptop to use, but it was configured and run through the PC there. I am at a new place without a PC, and a network connection from the wall (my landlord has the internet and router locked up in the basement of the house, my laptop can connect directly to this with out s problem using the network cable,).
When I plug the router in (power and network cable to wall), my computer picks up the SSID named network from the old house, but is "LOCAL ONLY".
Am I able to get my laptop connected to the internet through this in a wireless way?

thanks,
Wendy

So effectively you want to use your old router as a Wireless access point.

For a start you should disable DHCP on your router, as that will no doubt be enabled. By having it enabled it'll likely dish out a different IP address to your laptop than that of the network you're trying to access. Also by plugging that into your landlords network you've probably introduced a second DHCP server which will no doubt cause problems for other people trying to use the same network.

Once you've disabled DHCP you should be able to plug the network cable into one of the available switch ports of your router and you should now be able to receive an IP address from your landlords router.

I hope that helps