I was informed today by the technical support customer service on the phone today, that an automatic migration IS HAPPENING, but no timeline has been set and it could be months or years before my email address is migrated from POP3 to IMAP.
If this is not true then someone aught to tell the Telstra customer service team. If it is true, then someone better start figuring out and publicising a real timeline.
For the record, its totally unacceptable that users cannot convert their POP3 emails into IMAP. Most of these users have been with Bigpond the longest, and are being spat on by not being given this option.