The best prepaid internet
Pay before you use it and the credit check, the deposit and the contract all disappear together. In 2026 the speeds are good enough that this is a real choice, not a fallback.
NOW Internet is the best prepaid plan available: $30/mo all-in for unlimited 100 Mbps on Xfinity's cable network, billed monthly. If it doesn't reach you, Mint Home MINTernet is the 5G alternative and better value still if you want a phone line in the same price — just be ready to pay the year up front.
The prepaid plans, ranked
What each plan really costs at checkout
The advertised monthly rate is rarely what leaves your account on day one. This is the number that matters.
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How prepaid internet actually works
Postpaid internet is a small loan. The provider gives you a gateway and a month of service, then bills you afterwards, so it wants evidence you will pay — which is where the credit check and the deposit come from. Prepaid inverts that. You pay before you use the service, so there is no exposure to underwrite, nothing to hold, and no reason to run a check.
That single billing difference is what removes the credit check, the deposit, the contract and the early-termination fee all at once. None of them are concessions to people with poor credit. They are simply absent, because the thing they exist to protect against cannot happen.
What you actually give up
Speed ceilings are the real trade. Expect 100 to 400 Mbps down and 20 to 55 up rather than symmetrical gigabit fiber. You will self-install, sometimes on refurbished hardware limited to a single outlet, and you will miss the reward cards and bundle discounts that live on the postpaid side. Some prepaid plans also sit outside their parent brand's money-back guarantee, so check what your exit looks like before paying for a long term.
What you don't give up is worth naming. No contract, no early-termination fee, no promotional rate that doubles in month 13, and on every plan above the taxes and equipment are already inside the advertised price. For a lot of households that is a better deal than a good credit score would have bought them.
Wired or wireless
NOW is the only prepaid plan here running over cable, and that matters more than the speed numbers suggest. Fixed wireless performance depends on your distance from the tower, how many neighbours share it, and the weather. A 100 Mbps cable connection that always delivers 100 Mbps is usually a better experience than a 400 Mbps wireless one that sometimes delivers 40. If NOW serves your address, start there and treat the 5G options as the fallback.
How to pick between them
Check what reaches your address first, because availability decides this more often than preference. If NOW is available, buy it. If it isn't and you need a phone line anyway, Mint is the best value on this list. If you already have a Total Wireless phone plan, the $35 add-on beats everything. Tracfone is the pick when you want the gateway included and the others don't reach you.
Watch out for these
Common questions
The bottom line
Prepaid stopped being the compromise option a while ago. Start with NOW Internet if Comcast's cable reaches your address — $30 all-in on a wired connection billed monthly is the lowest-risk deal in home internet right now. Move to Mint if you're outside that footprint or you want a phone line in the same price, and to Total Wireless if you already carry one of their phone plans.
Jean founded ShopHighSpeed after trying to find one straight answer about business internet in his own town. He has been a Comcast and Verizon Fios customer, and builds the site’s rankings from the availability data providers file with the FCC rather than from provider marketing.