I, too, had a pleasant representative who sincerely wanted to help me.  Unfortunately her manager quoted the "due to our contract with Apple" reason for not being able to offer an early upgrade (1 1/2 mos).   I did ask what is different with their contract with Apple now versus the iPhone 4 deployment where they did offer very early upgrades.  I didn't get an answer.  This is a monster AT&T created.  They shouldn't be making up some lame excuse about how they are bound by their contract with Apple and they shouldn't be surprised that people are ticked off.  I am surprised that they have decided to dig their heels in at this point, especially with Sprint now on board with the iPhone offering an unlimited data, text messaging plans for about $20 per month less that the other carriers.