[Icathian]

You don't, really. You can (usually) change the DNS resolver your provided router uses to an internal IP, then statically assign that IP to your pi-hole. It's about 5 minutes in a GUI web panel, give or take the googling to find and navigate that GUI for your specific ISP-provided router.

That said a better router is usually worth it, I like my Netgear Nighthawk because I'm a bit lazy, someone else probably has a better suggestion.

[gorjusborg]

> You don't, really. You can (usually) change the DNS resolver your provided router uses to an internal IP, then statically assign that IP to your pi-hole.

This is totally right, and that is how I have my network configured. I have a firewall behind a dumb cable modem, and I set the DNS server for the network on that device. When machines configure w/ DHCP, they get assigned the router's address for dns resolution, which then delegates to the pi-hole. That's all specific to my hardware though.

[hot_gril]

You also have to ensure the Xfinity box's DHCP server doesn't lease the Pihole's IP address to a random device. Like set a 1-250 range for DHCP and give the Pi 251.

[grosswait]

Firewalla has been a good experience for me so far.