How to keep Bigpond as my email address

Question

Since Microsoft360, my laptop has not accepted Bigpond as my email server address which I need to keep...not Outlook. Help. I have tried everything...

Answer 1

@Jennifer Browne said

my laptop has not accepted Bigpond as my email server

I am not a BigPond/Telstra user, so I can't test myself. But the reports I've seen indicate that you may have to use a Telstra generated App Password when trying to add your BigPond account to Outlook.

Generate a Telstra App Password

Login to your Telstra/BigPond webmail using a Browser

Click on the nine-dots in the top left menu and select “Settings” and then click on “Accounts”. Look for the "GENERATE PASSWORD" button.

Copy and paste the generated password to a text document so you can copy/paste it into Outlook when needed.

Remove any existing Outlook Telstra/BigPond account

See the "Remove an account" section of this doc
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-an-email-account-to-outlook-for-windows-6e27792a-9267-4aa4-8bb6-c84ef146101b

Add back the Telstra/BigPond account to Outlook

See the "Add a new account" section of this doc
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-an-email-account-to-outlook-for-windows-6e27792a-9267-4aa4-8bb6-c84ef146101b

But any place it ask for a password, copy/paste the Telstra App Password you generated and saved in a text document, not your normal email account password.

If you hit any errors trying this, please report back with a screen shot of the error message.

Answer 2

Hi Jennifer Browne

Thanks for your post. I understand how important it is for you to continue using your BigPond email address.

In addition to the Q&A Assist guidance under your post, while New Outlook for Windows lists IMAP/POP support, actual compatibility depends on the email provider. If a BigPond/Telstra account cannot be added in New Outlook, please switch to Classic Outlook for Windows:

• Open New Outlook.
• Turn New Outlook off using the toggle in the top‑right corner.
• Classic Outlook will open automatically.
• Configure your BigPond account there using the correct IMAP/POP settings.

You can refer to the Microsoft official guide: Revert to classic Outlook

If Classic Outlook is not installed on your device, please follow this guidance: Install or reinstall classic Outlook on a Windows PC

Thank you for your understanding.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 3

To keep using the Bigpond email address in Outlook on Windows, the Bigpond account must be configured with the correct server settings instead of creating or using an Outlook.com/Microsoft 365 mailbox.

Use these steps in classic Outlook for Windows (not the New Outlook preview):

1. Open Control Panel on the PC.
2. Search for and open Mail.
3. In Mail Setup – Outlook, select Email Accounts.
4. In Account Settings, either:
   • Select the existing Bigpond account and choose Change, or
   • Select New to add the Bigpond address again.
5. On the Change Account (or setup) window, make sure:
   • The Email Address is the Bigpond address.
   • The Incoming mail server and Outgoing mail server match the values provided by Bigpond (Telstra). If unsure, obtain them from Bigpond or from their help pages. For common providers, server formats are documented under POP/IMAP settings; see the POP and IMAP reference article linked below.
6. Under Logon Information, confirm the correct User Name (usually the full Bigpond email address) and Password are entered.
   • If Bigpond requires an app password or two‑factor authentication, use the generated passcode instead of the normal password.
7. Select More Settings → Advanced and verify the ports and encryption (SSL/TLS) values match Bigpond’s requirements.
8. Save the changes and restart Outlook.

If Outlook still tries to use an Outlook.com/Microsoft 365 address instead of Bigpond, create a fresh profile that only contains the Bigpond account:

1. Control Panel → Mail → Show Profiles.
2. Add a new profile and configure only the Bigpond account in it using the correct server settings.
3. Set Always use this profile to the new profile.

If the correct server names, ports, and SSL settings are unknown, they must be obtained from Bigpond/Telstra support or documentation, as Outlook requires those details to connect to a non‑Microsoft email service.

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References:

• Change or update email account settings in Outlook for Windows
• Server settings you'll need from your email provider