You'll find that all cell phone providers do the same thing, and their reasoning is actually fairly sound. The cost of the Treo is $650 - for new customers or existing customers. To entice people to sign with Cingular they'll give you a discount on the phone, but force you to sign a 2 year contract.

Some of the money you pay Cingular every month goes to cover the cost of your phone... by the end of your two year contract you'll have paid the $150 difference. At that point you'll be elegible for another discounted upgrade and have to sign another two year contract.

Every phone Cingular sells is that way. Take a look at the price tags in the store... the big cheap price is for new customers, or customers that have made it through their two year contract and are elegible for the upgrade. In the fine print you'll see a higher cost for people who want to sign a 1 year contract (because they'll pay less toward the phone during that one year) and an even higher cost for people who are not elegible for an upgrade, or want to buy the phone with no contract.

In short, since you last upgraded your phones in March you haven't finished paying for them yet, so you can't get another discount on a new phone. You'll find that ever Cell phone provider will have the same rules.

Cingular is usually pretty good, and when I had a phone fail about 6 months before my two year contract ended I called and spoke with the agents and they were willing to let me upgrade at the cheap price even though I still had some time on my contract. You have more than half of a two year contract left, however, so I would be surprised if you can work out that deal.

The other option is what Cingular calls an "exception upgrade". They will let you upgrade your phone at the one year contract price (which will be more than the cheap price in big print, but less than the $650 you were quoted), however, you will still need to sign a two year contract. I think you have a good chance of getting this deal.

HTH,
Brett