Oh.. I'm sorry but to tell you that you misunderstood the free phone policy. After one year (or two year, it depends) you started to use your cell phone, you are eligible to get a new phone for free or for a discounted price. And you didn't use your free phone at the first renewal time point according to your post. So you are eligible to get a new phone at any time since then. BUT if you read the policy carefully, your free new phone requires "new two (or one) year contract" automatically. In other words, even though you did not get the new phone about a year ago which was your first renewal time, you still need to "renew" your plan at the time of getting a new phone for free (or at discounted price).

I had the same problem years ago. So, I just switched to Verizon and got a new phone for a discounted price. Just transfer your phone number to new carrier to keep using the same number.