Activating an old expired never used sim card for use on an old phone?

Thank you for replying. We just got done trying a new unexpired sim on it. T-Mobile activated the card but unfortunately the phone keeps saying check sim. A friend of ours who also has a special needs person in their household has a different T-Mobile flip phone using the older sim card like the  expired ones I have. When we placed that card in our unlocked Motorola flip phone it worked smoothly so I know it's a sim card design issue and not network. If compared the design of the golden colored connectors on the new and older sim cards you'll see there are slight differences.