Questions to ask before you apply

What the call file actually counts

The study is a count of how shopping calls ended. It is not a credit score, and it is not a list of which company says yes. The full tables, the suppression rules, and the download sit on the credit check and deposit study. This page is the set of questions to ask on the next call.

Read the 99.1 figure as a ratio, not as “almost everyone is denied.” Endings and orders are different piles. A call that stops is an ending. A call that becomes a sale is an order. Dividing one pile by the other is not the same as the share of callers who were denied. The study page shows the piles. Use it when you want the table, and use this page when you want the questions.

The file does not say whether a check was a soft inquiry or a hard inquiry. It also does not record a deposit amount. Anyone who quotes a dollar figure for “the” internet deposit is adding a number this study does not have. Ask the provider for the amount on your application, what it is applied to, and whether it comes back.

Ask these questions before you agree

Say the questions out loud before you give a Social Security number or a card. A clear answer is part of the offer. A shrug is a reason to pause.

• Will you run a credit check, a qualification check, or both?
• Is the inquiry soft or hard? The study cannot tell you. The provider can.
• If there is a deposit or a prepayment, what is the amount, what is it applied to, and when is it returned?
• Is there a prepaid plan at this address that does not use this check?
• Can a second adult who will live with the service be the applicant instead?

Write the answers next to the plan name and the address. A later bill dispute is easier when the note says what the agent promised about the deposit. Our full-cost guide is where you add the deposit into the first year, once you have the amount from the provider. Leave the amount blank until they name it.

Do not put a person on the account who will not live with the service. The 2.9% figure is a household member or a co-applicant the agent recorded. It is not permission to use someone else’s identity. If the provider wants a second adult, ask whether that person must live at the service address.

If this provider stops the order

A stop at one provider is not a stop at every provider. The study does not rank who approves a thin file. It does say the credit check and the deposit are common endings, so a second path is a normal thing to prepare before the call, not an insult after it.

One path is prepaid. On Xfinity NOW, re-read Nov 2, 2026, there is no credit check and no annual contract. That sentence is about NOW, not about every Xfinity plan, and not about every prepaid seller. Taxes and fees are included on that product, and AutoPay is required. The English eligibility page is does prepaid internet fit. The Nov 2 reading of payment, refunds, and the gateway is internet prepagado, explained. Confirm the unit. A citywide prepaid ad is not the apartment.

Another path is Lifeline, if the household qualifies. USAC, re-read Nov 2, 2026, still ties the benefit to income at or below 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, or to programs such as SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, Federal Public Housing Assistance, or the Veterans and Survivors Pension Benefit. One benefit per household means people at the same address who share income and expenses. Lifeline is not a prize for failing a credit check. It is a separate program with its own application. Lower-cost internet options walks through that application. Do not pay a seller who still offers the Affordable Connectivity Program. That program ended June 1, 2024.

A third path is to ask this same provider whether a deposit replaces the denial, and to get the amount in writing before you pay it. The study records how often people could not cover the deposit. It does not say a deposit is always offered, or that paying one repairs a credit file. If the agent will not name the amount, stop and check another address-level offer.

What this page will not tell you

It will not tell you your score, and it will not tell you that a named company “approves bad credit.” Those sentences are not in the file. A page that ranks providers by approval is guessing, or it is selling a lead. We do not have that ranking.

It will not tell you to hide a debt or to use another person’s information. The useful move is narrower: ask what the check is, ask what the deposit is, and know the prepaid and Lifeline questions before you are on the call. Then run the address. A plan that does not require a check is useless if it is not sold at the unit.

The order button on this site does not promise a credit outcome. It starts an address check. If the call stops, come back to the questions above and to the study, and try the path that matches the answer you actually got.

What to do next

Check plans at your address after you know whether you are asking about a standard plan, a prepaid plan, or Lifeline. The prepaid product discussed above is Xfinity NOW; See Xfinity plans only after the address check says that product is sold there. Our methodology keeps the call-file counts separate from a provider’s current rule, because a rule can change after the file was closed.