How many Arduino boards does my project need?

I want to build an Arduino-based device that accepts both wired Ethernet and WiFi TCP/IP connections. Which of the following do I need to buy:

  • Just the Arduino WiFi Shield (1 item)
  • Arduino WiFi Shield and the Ethernet Shield (2 items)
  • Arduino, the WiFi Shield and the Ethernet Shield (3 items)
  • Some other combination of boards/shields?

And, if I do need to buy a base Arduino board and then 1+ Shields for it, is there a specific model of Arduino that should be used (or that is preferred)? Thanks in advance.

One other option, perhaps, would be for me to solder/add a cat-5 ethernet port to the controller, instead of adding an additional Ethernet shield. Is this possible?

"Shield" means that you need to have an Arduino board underneath it. I know they make Arduino (clone?) that has the Arduino board and ethernet all on one board.

Thanks for the advice! Any links for where I could find such an "all-in-one" device.

Here's my concern: all of the examples I've seen for merging wired Ethernet and WiFi over the same Arduino board all involve hacking a TP-Link router and connecting it to Arduino. I'd like to implement a solution that doesn't violate an license agreements.

Can you (or anybody else) confirm that a single Arduino board can connect to both an Ethernet and a WiFi shield, or do I have to buy 2 Arduino boards, and cannot 1 shield to each?

Considerring the raw computing power of the Arduino (NOT) you are probably asking a bit much for an arduino to handle 2 complete network connections.

If both devices use the SPI bus then there should be no trouble connecting them. Try to pick to with different "slave select" pins. If you can't find two with different pins it will still work but will need a teeny bit of hacking.