EE mobile plans - Beware

After getting an earlier problem sorted it appears that both of my discounted 4GEE pay monthly mobile plans with data allowances have had their advertised call allowances removed! Is this happening to others, too, especially given the modern penchant for "discounts" that give with one hand and take back with the other? The calls don't show up in the calls list on My EE, but as "extra charges", the detail just referred to as "Number". The calls are UK 01xx and Orange 079xx numbers - I can tell from the times stated

Eck! Now know what's happening, because the sim cards were changed with the new accounts each time the phone was used a security app was sending an international text message with a warning, interpreting the phone as stolen. These eventually show up on MyEE after a delay, but with a charge shown as zero, when of course it isn't. The app runs in the background and it's settings are only available once on set up, so if you forget, you're in trouble. Atvast AntiTheft is the culprit. Have set it up again with text messaging disabled.

Edited by deleted (Mon 19-Jan-15 14:35:58)

Which 4GEE pay monthly mobile plan has its call allowances removed?

Sounds like it's your security app to beware of!

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

Sounds like it's your security app to beware of!

Beware by being aware of what it does. Anti-Theft is an optional extra on Avast! Mobile Security App. I used it on an older phone of mine and had no problems with it, it hides itself from the casual user once installed but you can change it's settings. Not sure how an up to date version works as I deleted everything on the phone (not rooted) last year by flashing the firmware in an update. It has not had a new SIM in it for a while and never likely will.

In reply to a post by smurf46:

Atvast AntiTheft is the culprit. Have set it up again with text messaging disabled.

I take it you solved your problems? Avast! does have a removal tool for Anti-Theft. Their support forums are very good and the Avast! team does take an active interest in their product. I'd post there if you've got any future problems with it.

There is a post similar (App at installation asked & user allowed SMS to be sent if SIM changed, SIM changed, SMS sent, user charged, user complained) to this on the Avast support forums under the Anti-theft section last year (December 2014). In that case the App was doing what it was designed to do which is report the phone as stolen after the SIM was changed a number of times. It sounded like the user was not aware of how it worked, or somehow they did not even know it was there in the first place (someone else installed it?).

There are a number of other complaints against this Free App and they all follow a similar line, best if your not sure don't use and simply be careful with your phone. I used an older version of it but have never bothered to reinstall Anti-Theft which is part of Avast! Mobile Security. I understond at the time (but can not confirm) that their mobile security apps were not originally written by the Avast team that wrote the popular PC anti-virus software but was acquired. I've never considered it as good as the PC versions but that may have changed in recent years.