BT Wholesale cuts off Prodigy Internet

Sheffield-based ISP Prodigy Internet has effectively been shut down, after BT Wholesale began redirecting its customers to a "walled garden" page to obtain Migration Authorisation Codes (MACs).

A spokeswoman for the communications regulator Ofcom said it had worked with BT Wholesale to "maintain service" on Monday lunchtime after Prodigy Internet failed to respond to attempts at contact. BT Wholesale told regulators ahead of time that it planned to redirect the reseller's customers.

Prodigy Internet's website is unavailable, although still stored in Google's cache.

Commenting on the move action, Reg reader James said: "I can live with that, as Prodigy haven't billed me since December 2nd - which may explain [it]."

Prodigy Internet was fined £30,000 by Ofcom in 2007, and the same sum in 2008, for failure to comply with regulations granting consumers the right to obtain their MAC.

"We can't get hold of them," Ofcom said. El Reg's attempts to contact Prodigy Internet today were also unsuccessful. The small firm is still listed as trading by Companies House.

Ofcom's spokeswoman encouraged any Prodigy Internet customers who are not being redirected to obtain a MAC to contact regulators directly. The details are here. ®