Can't activate phone on Itunes

I had an Iphone 4 which is broken, so I am temporarily going to my old iphone 2 (no data plan) but after plugging into Itunes, my phone just keeps saying 'waiting for activation' but after hours of waiting, it never activates. It's not a hacked phone as I've had it since it was a baby phone. Is this not supported at all any longer?