Twice I have clicked on the link asking me to upgrade my hotmail account to outlook (without changing address). Both time I got a message saying that my account cannot be upgraded right now.

So I went to outlook.com to see if I could upgrade it by signing in there. Got the same message "your hotmail account cannot be upgraded right now".

Also, the options menu in my hotmail account does not have the option to upgrade to outlook.

Any suggestions on how to convert to outlook while keeping my hotmail address?

I fear that my account will not be converted, even during the automatic conversion.