If you still use a BigPond mailbox and want to move to Gmail account or Google Workspace. Well, look no further! In this article, I will provide you with manual and professional ways to transfer emails from BigPond to Gmail or G Suite. Along with this, I will also discuss why you need to move from your legacy mailbox to a Google account.

Table of Contents
Hide

First, let’s understand the BigPond background. Many years ago, Telstra phased out BigPond as a standalone internet service. So, new customers will not be provided with email mailboxes with their internet plans. However, users who already had a mailbox before this service shutdown can still use their existing mailbox. This is one of the reasons why people are moving their mailbox.

Why Switch from BigPond to Gmail or G Suite Account?

Apart from the above reasons, there are other reasons why a user wants or has to move their account. Below are the common causes.

  • Moving from BigPond to Gmail gives you freedom from Telstra. As Telstra provides you with $79 AUD per year for an active email address. Whereas Gmail is free to use.
  • BigPond brand has been phased out by Telstra for a long time. There are chances that, in the future, it will completely shut down the legacy account. To prevent that, move to the Gmail account.
  • Gmail provides you with 15 GB of free storage space shared with other Google apps. This is much larger than the legacy BigPond account.
  • Transferring emails to your Gmail or Google Workspace is beneficial to you, as you can get access to productivity tools like Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, etc.

When it comes to migrating your emails from BigPond to Gmail using the IMAP protocol. There are certain points that you must keep in mind. Such as.

Also Read: Why I Can’t Access My BigPond Emails?

Points You Must Know Before Transferring BigPond to Gmail or G Suite

  • The first crucial point is to backup your emails before you go through the process. This is important, as migrating your mailbox is risky because you may lose your emails or miss them if some issues occur during the process.
  • Note down the IMAP server settings of BigPond, as the tool may ask you to provide the details. Here are the settings.
    • Incoming Mail Server: imap.telstra.com
    • Port: 993
    • Security: SSL/TLS
    • Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.telstra.com
    • Port: 465 or 587 with STARTTLS
    • Security: SSL/TLS
  • Keep your BigPond clean. Remove any unwanted, duplicated emails. So that you can only transfer the data that you want.
  • Gmail storage is shared by other apps, so check if your account has enough space to move the entire BigPond mailbox.

Now that we have provided you with points that you must know. You can easily transfer emails from BigPond to Gmail or G Suite.

How to Add BigPond Email to Gmail Manually?

Unfortunately, Gmail does not have a native tool that can import emails from any external email account, even with IMAP access. Therefore, you have to use the help of an email client where you can configure your BigPond and Gmail email accounts. If you have a desktop email client, then follow the steps below.

  1. Log in to your desktop email client and go to the Account Settings.
  2. Click the Add new Account button. Provide your BigPond email address.
  3. Provide the Server Settings that I have mentioned above.
  4. Enter the BigPond app password. Then, connect your account.
  5. Do the same process to configure your Gmail account.
  6. After you have properly linked your two accounts. Move the BigPond emails.
  7. For this, go to the configured BigPond folder in the client. Select the email and drag it.
  8. Drop the email in the configured Gmail folder. Repeat these same steps to move your other emails.

Important Note:

Generate a BigPond (Telstra) app password to securely configure your account.

  1. In your Telstra webmail, log in to your legacy email account.
  2. Go to the menu, then click Settings.
  3. Select Accounts and find the App-Specific Passwords.
  4. Click Generate Password, and type a name for where you are going to use it.
  5. Copy the created password and then paste it when you are configuring your account.

See How to Forward BigPond Email to Gmail

There is another free way to get your BigPond emails to Gmail, which is forwarding. This method does not require an IMAP server. However, it only forwards your emails, not copies them and move to your Gmail or Google Workspace. To forward already existing emails,

  1. Select the email that you want to forward. Open it.
  2. Click the Forward button from the menu. Enter the Gmail email address.
  3. Hit the Forward button. Now, forward your other emails one by one.

To forward upcoming emails in Gmail, set up auto-forwarding with these steps.

  1. Log in to your Telstra Webmail.
  2. Go to Settings > Mail > Auto-Forward.
  3. Enter your new Gmail address and save the changes.

Here are the manual ways to migrate BigPond emails to Gmail. These are free to use, but you must have an email desktop client, or it will be time-consuming to forward one by one. That’s why these methods are not a good option for transferring. Many experts suggest you use professional software to perform direct migration securely.

How to Transfer Emails from BigPond to Gmail Professionally?

For a direct, smooth, and secure transfer process, technical software is the best method. SysTools IMAP Migrator is one of the great utilities that is designed to perform email migration using an IMAP server. So, it is an all-in-one solution to transfer any IMAP-enabled account to another directly, including BigPond to Gmail. It also provides you with other amazing functions like batch migration, selective migration, retry facilities, creating reports, etc. To use the software, you can download its demo version for free on Windows and macOS operating systems.

How does this Software Work?

  1. Install and activate the tool on your system.
  2. The tool automatically selects IMAP as both the Source and Target. Plus, the Email workload checkbox is also ticked. All you have to do is apply the “Date Filter,” which is entirely optional. Just remember, if you don’t put a date filter, the tool will move all emails.
    choose imap as source and destination
  3. From the dropdown menu in the Source IMAP Account section, select Others. Then, enter your BigPond account credentials in the required fields and click “Validate”.
    select your bigpond as source
  4. Similarly, in the Destination IMAP Account section, choose the Host Name (Gmail/G Suite) from the dropdown options, enter the account credentials, and click the “Validate” button.
    choose gmail
  5. Go over to the User Mapping tab, download the CSV template, edit it, and upload it back to the tool with the help of the Import button.
    provide source and destination account
  6. Now, view the user list, Select > Prioritize, edit out any typos/wrong credentials, validate, and click the “Start Migration” button, and the process will initiate.
    start migration

Congratulations! You have successfully exported your BigPond emails to the Gmail business account mailbox. If you want, you can also use it to migrate BigPond IMAP emails to G Suite account as well

So There You Have It

In this article, we discussed how to transfer emails from BigPond to Gmail. We shared with you the top two expert recommendations to accomplish the task smoothly. You can choose either of the above-shared tools depending on the Operating System you use, i.e., Windows or Mac. We also discussed the top reasons that make Gmail an excellent choice of destination for users. We hope this article resolved all your queries regarding BigPond to Gmail migration.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Can I keep my BigPond email address if I leave Telstra?
To keep your BigPond email after leaving Telstra, inform Telstra when you close your account. You can notify them via phone (13 22 00), My Telstra app, or the official website.

Your @bigpond.com remains free for the first 12 months, then Telstra charges a $79 (AUD incl Tax) annual fee to keep your account active. So we suggest you migrate before that.

Q. How many emails can I keep in my BigPond email account?
You have a personal allocated space of 10 GB, but because each email can vary so much in size, it’s impossible to give an exact number.

For a rough calculation, if your emails are primarily text-based with few or no attachments (stay < 10 KB), you can store a very large number of them (more than a million). However, if you frequently send or receive emails with large attachments (> 1 MB), you will have around 10,000 messages.