Using old SIM card on new phone

Hello--I recently lost my brand new Sony Ericksson W580 at Target but I had bought it in Europe and it had a 110v adapter. No one of course has brought it back. I am very discouraged, is there any way I can track it. It is the walkman and radio one. I called AT&T and they said there was nothing they could do to find it.

Second, I had an old SIM card in my things to transfer my contacts to the new (cheap) T-Mobile phone I am getting. AT&T and T-Mobile tell me that if the SIM card is deactivated I can not transfer any of my contacts. Is this true? I have lost 2 phones this year and need to have a back up contact list so I can easily download the information. Any suggestions?? Thank you fuming in South Florida.

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Two things going on.
First - The lost phone, unfortunately there really isn't a way to "track" the old phone down. Most new phones do have a location finder on them, but it's only activated when you call 911. So as much as I hate to say it, it's gone.

As for the old SIM card and contacts, as long as the card isn't damaged, you can put it into any unlocked SIM phone and get the contacts off of the card. The contacts are saved on the card, and doesn't matter if it has been deactivated or not.
I have an old Cingular SIM card that I use for testing SIM phones, and I do have test contacts on it. I haven't had Cingular in years, but the card works just fine.