Internet prepagado: payment, equipment, and who can order

What prepaid changes on the bill

People search “internet prepagado” when they want service they pay ahead of time, often with no credit check and no year-long contract. Those words describe a payment design. They do not name a technology. Cable, fiber, fixed wireless, and satellite can each be sold as prepaid or as a monthly account. The address still decides which of those exist.

Xfinity publishes a full FAQ for one prepaid product, NOW Internet. We re-read it on Nov 2, 2026 and use it as a worked list of questions. Another seller can answer every row differently. Our full-cost guide is the place to add the charges up once you have both offers in front of you.

The two speed names belong in that table because they are easy to mix up with a plan you saw in an ad. Ask the seller which of them the unit can actually get. A citywide banner is not the unit.

Refunds, pauses, and a step down in speed

Treat the prepaid period as the thing you buy. On NOW, once you activate, that period is not refunded and it is not split into leftover days. If you have not activated yet, the same FAQ says a refund may still be possible. Read the cancel steps before you plug the gateway in if the move date is shaky.

Turning AutoPay off is how you pause. Service continues until the current period ends. You can start again within 180 days. Past that, the account is canceled and the gateway stops working. There is no payment-arrangement option, because the product is paid ahead.

You can move from the faster choice to the slower one in the account. You do not get money back for the difference. The faster choice keeps running until the period you already started comes to an end. Moving the other way is described as immediate. Confirm both directions in the account before you rely on either one.

A short stay is where this clock hurts. If you leave halfway through a period, you have paid for days you will not use. Our guide to internet for a short stay turns that into a cost per day you can compare with a normal monthly plan. Put both offers in the cost calculator and include every period, not the first one alone.

The gateway, the sticker, and a move

NOW does not let you bring your own modem or gateway. The gateway comes with the service. You plug it in and activate it in the Xfinity app. When the box arrives, a sticker shows the Wi-Fi name and password. Those two cannot be changed. If you need a name you choose, this product is a poor fit.

You do not ship the gateway back when you cancel, and you do not ship it back when you pause. The FAQ tells you to recycle it. It carries a 90-day warranty. Hotspot access that other Xfinity customers use is not included.

A move is a new signup. Disconnect the old account, leave that gateway to be recycled, and order again at the next address. You cannot carry the gateway with you. The cancellation takes effect right away, so wait until you are actually leaving. A new gateway is sent to the new address, or you can pick one up in a store if you sign up there.

If Xfinity Internet is already on at home and you want NOW instead, the FAQ says the older service has to be disconnected, and that it can stay on until the NOW gateway is in hand and activated. The two cannot remain on together after that. Our Xfinity keep-or-switch guide covers the rest of that account. If someone else already has service at the new unit, the FAQ says to take proof of residency to a store. It does not list the documents on this page, so ask which ones that store accepts.

Where this product is not sold

Eligibility is an address check plus a list of conflicts. The FAQ says NOW Internet is not sold at fiber properties. It is also not sold where the building already has Bulk Video, Bulk Internet, Managed WiFi, or WiFi Ready service. A building deal can block the prepaid product even when the street outside has Xfinity plant.

The same FAQ then disagrees with itself about other Xfinity products. The eligibility list says NOW is not available if you subscribe to other Xfinity services, except Xfinity Mobile. A later answer says a NOW Internet customer cannot add Xfinity Internet, Xfinity Mobile, Xfinity TV, Xfinity Home, or Xfinity Voice. A third answer says NOW Mobile and prepaid NOW TV can be added. Those are different product names. Ask Xfinity which sentence applies to your account before you drop a mobile line to qualify. See Xfinity plans.

None of that is a promise that our order form sells NOW. Check plans at your address for what can be ordered at the unit. Read the seller’s own terms before you pay. If the only wired offer is a normal monthly plan, compare that plan’s credit check and deposit with the prepaid rules. How often a credit check or a deposit ended a shopping call is the count from our own calls.

Lifeline is separate from the payment clock

A prepaid design does not decide Lifeline. USAC, re-read Nov 2, 2026, still takes new applicants. A household can qualify on income or on a program. Income qualifies at or below 135 percent of the 2026 Federal Poverty Guidelines. USAC prints a dollar table for that test. We do not copy the dollar rows. Use the table on USAC’s own page, because those figures change.

The programs named for the general test are SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, Federal Public Housing Assistance, and the Veterans and Survivors Pension Benefit. SNAP under its local name in Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands counts as well. On Tribal lands, USAC also lists Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Tribal TANF, Tribal Head Start when the household already meets the income test, and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations.

Only one Lifeline benefit is allowed per household. USAC defines a household as people at the same address who share income and expenses. A worksheet is required when a second person at that address applies. Providers use the National Verifier, except in Oregon and Texas, which USAC calls National Lifeline Accountability Database opt-out states. A consumer can also apply through the National Verifier.

The Affordable Connectivity Program is closed. The FCC stopped new enrollments in February 2024 and ended the program on June 1, 2024. Do not pay a seller who still advertises it as open. Our guide to lower-cost internet options walks through Lifeline without mixing it into a prepaid pitch. Under the Safe Connections Act, USAC also describes emergency support for survivors for up to six months. Read that page before you rely on it. We are not quoting a dollar figure from it.

Questions to ask any prepaid seller

Use NOW as the checklist, then make the other seller answer the same rows. How long is one payment? Does it renew by itself? What do you get back if you stop after activation? How long can a missed payment sit before the account dies? Can you use your own modem? Can you rename the Wi-Fi? What happens to the equipment on a move? Which buildings and which existing accounts are turned away?

Then price the whole stay, not the first period. Add equipment, taxes if they are extra, and any days you will pay after you leave. A normal monthly plan can cost less once the stay is long and the address is settled. Prepaid can fit when the end date is unclear or a credit check is the thing blocking the order. The English page on basic prepaid internet service uses an earlier reading of the same NOW FAQ. This page adds the Nov 2, 2026 limits: fiber properties, the gateway you cannot replace, the sticker password, and the move that starts a new account.

If the address comes back with only a satellite dish, the prepaid questions still apply, but the technology is a different article. Start from the address check either way. A provider hub such as where WOW says it serves is a reminder that each company publishes its own footprint. It is not a list of prepaid plans.

What to do next

Price a prepaid offer and a monthly plan over the same dates in the cost calculator. Lifeline rules stay on USAC’s page. Our methodology quotes an eligibility rule only when its current scope can be checked.

When you are ready to see what the unit can order, use the address check. Do not assume a prepaid brand is in that list just because the FAQ exists.