Rebeccaramsey1985 Said:
"I have a new iPhone and I put my current Sim card from my old iPhone into the new one. Thinking I could use activate it like that but it sanded iPhone is not activating and that I needed to contact apple."
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Troubleshoot "Unable to Activate":
A. Start Here: If you can't Activate your iPhone - Apple Support
As it Reads: "If your iPhone can't be activated or an alert says the activation server is unavailable or the SIM card is unsupported, learn what to do."
B. Install a Cellular Update:
Your device is quite old. So, that may be the culprit. But, before making that assertion, try the following. It might be prompting you for a cellular update to install. So, go here for that. Update your carrier settings manually on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support