What is a Residential Proxy: Definition & How to Use?

Proxy servers play a critical role in online anonymity, automation, and data access. There are four main types of them: datacenter, residential, mobile, and ISP. Among the mentioned types, residential ones tend to capture more attention because of their versatility and dependability. In this article we are going to explore what is a residential proxy and other features alongside as well as how to purchase them and create a new list.

What Are Residential Proxies?

So, let’s start with the: what is residential IP? Such IP addresses possess a high level of trust since they come from real home networks all over the world. They, unlike data center ones, are registered with a valid ISP; therefore, they are less likely to raise the suspicion of web service security systems. Moreover, the broad geographical coverage of these servers makes it possible to access regionally restricted content or resources.

Sources for Obtaining Residential Proxies

Now, when we know residential proxies meaning we can proceed to their way of obtaining as it differs from those of data centers. Data center IP addresses are derived from servers located in data centers, and residential ones are sourced from real people who lease or rent out their IP addresses.

Obtaining them can be divided into two methods:

Direct Ethical Rental

This approach consists of renting access from users who have provided consent through some form of user agreements. Our organization enters and maintains rental agreements because we have contracts with device or application owners who provide access to their traffic in exchange for a payment. The payment could be in the form of a bonus, a premium subscription or other services. The dedicated residential proxies are willingly offered based on voluntary consent from users. Consent is typically obtained through the installation of an application, website, or browser extension that distributes traffic.

Without User Consent

Trying to obtain residential proxies without user's consent leads to illegal sudden obstruction of power, unlawfully gaining access to an individual or organizations secure networks through malicious means such as hacking which is unethical. This could include the use of botnets, malware, or other methods to commandeer users' devices against their will. IPs are harvested without permission from the owners and the owners of such information. Apart from legal provisions within laws such actions breach there is also secure breach to owners of controlling devices.

Such practices can expose users to various risks:

1. Multiple users accessing the server at the same time causes slow response.
2. It may be flagged as bot activity due to high levels of traffic consumption by several users simultaneously. This can lead to the banning of certain IPs and accounts.
3. There is no guarantee of IP stability or performance, as these addresses are obtained without the consent of their legitimate owners.

It is possible to incur reputation damage, fines, and account or IP bans when using such proxies sourced without permission. Trustworthy providers do exist, and servers must be sourced from them as they ensure ethical procurement of IPs which grants use of a safe network.

How Do Residential Proxies Work?

Ethically sourced private residential proxy operates differently compared to server one. In this case, the clients purchase MBs from a provider who gives access to a pool of IPs belonging to actual users. The IPs are loaded onto the client’s software, allowing secure protected connections to data and interception leakage. Users can evade geo-restrictions or blocks on certain websites.

The capability of such servers to deliver geolocation IPs from nearly any part of the globe, even as precise as the region, city, and Internet service provider level, is a remarkable benefit. This is made possible because user IP addresses are provided in large swaths, and users’ traffic is distributed during online sessions. When a user who provides access to the IP ends their session or logs out, another IP of the same locale is provided.

It is worth noting that the traffic from residential proxy networks is more costly than that of ones from data centers. Purchase of them makes sense for certain use cases, like web scraping when data gathering is done. They improve the reliability and the control optimizations balance performance with responsiveness the driver and web sites interact with, enhances anonymity, and reduces blocking risks. Many web resources impose limits on the number of requests permitted from one IP address in a given timeframe. Regularly changing IPs enables the scraper to circumvent having their requests restricted. Such a server will intelligently connect to the sites using geographically dispersed IPs located in various locales to prevent captcha and erroneous response issues during the scraping process.

Residential Proxy Types

Based on the method of rotation and sales model, they can be subdivided as follows:

Types of rotation:

• Static residential proxies. Sometimes called “Sticky”, these allocate the same IP address throughout the online sessions of users traffic distributors. These are optimal for tasks that require a fixed IP address like per-session-stipulated authorizations or interacting with resources which are sensitive to IP address changes.
• Rotating residential proxies. These periodically cycle to a different IP address. The users have the option to set delay for ip address rotation while buying MBs from the provider for example, every five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes or thirty minutes.

Sales models:

• Shared. These provide access to a pool of IP addresses (dynamically charged) which multiple clients can use simultaneously. While cheaper than dedicated ones, they may lose consistency and thus only be good for non-critical tasks.
• Dedicated. These give clients a set of private IP addresses which are not shared with other clients. They provide an extremely high server connection consistency and security and therefore are the most expensive.

The selection is based on the requirements of the user’s project. Dedicated servers are usually recommended as they are used exclusively by a lone individual and permit the selection of sticky or rotating rotation types based on the requirements of the designated task.

What is a Residential Proxy Use Cases

Their uses range from e-commerce price monitoring, ad tech verification, ad fraud detection, to even enabling travel platforms to check for dynamic pricing. Businesses also use them to test personalized content and region specific launches.

How to Determine the Required Amount of Traffic for Different Tasks

Different tasks can vary greatly in terms of data usage, especially when it comes to the number of requests and the size of transferred content. The most accurate way to assess actual consumption is through hands-on testing, which is why many providers offer trial packages. These allow users to estimate usage requirements based on their specific workflows, such as monitoring or scraping activities.

The table below provides an approximate baseline for minimum data needs across various project types. This represents a rough calculation.

When you opt in for the trial package on our website, you pay a fee and then receive 200MB to be used within a 3 day period. This is a great way for people to gauge the consumption of residential proxies relative to how they work before fully committing to the pricing plan.

For further details about our pricing plans, refer to the “Residential proxies” section of our website.

How to Create a Residential Proxy List

Now, let’s explore how to make residential proxies list properly with this step-by-step guide below:

1. Go to the “Resident orders” page within your account on our website.

   

2. In this part, you can find the details of your pricing plan, including the data limit and the valid period. Select either “Sticky” or “Dynamic” for the rotation method that best suits your project. This setting will apply to all lists that you generate.

   

3. With the list name, provide a title that will allow for easy recognition when searching later for every list. After that, decide on the authorization method and format in which you will upload them. In the “Filter” field, define the geolocation parameters, including city and the internet service provider, as well as the number of IPs needed for the current sheet. Choose the relevant upload format from the list in the “Output” field to ensure smooth integration into various software. Press the “Create” button to conclude the steps.

   

4. The list is now generated and can be found within your account on our website. To download the list in the preferred format, hit the “file” button.

   

All IPs in the file will use the same gateway server. After walking through the configuration steps, the actual IP address will be disclosed. This can be verified utilizing our free service, “My IP”.

What is a Residential Proxy: Final Thoughts

Now, we know how to use residential proxies. Their trusted IPs from providers and hosts are valid. As an added bonus, servers of this type are present in a myriad of regions and countries. This allows users to access geo-restricted content outside of their regions.

The versatility of such a type excels the users in their tasks like profile promotion, automation of processes, multi-accounting, website scraping, and data analysis. Users can also set the rotation and authorization type, and supervise MBs consumption allowing smoother project execution.

FAQ

Between static and rotating residential proxies, which one to choose?

It depends on the tasks at hand. If you want to manage social media accounts or log into user profiles, static ones will best suit you since these tasks require stable identity throughout the session. However, if your work has tasks like scraping a lot of data or monitoring prices, then rotating options work best since they frequent IP changes that evade detection.

Do residential proxies aid in bypassing CAPTCHA restrictions?

Yes, as a matter of fact, they do assist in avoiding CAPTCHA measures. Because real IPs provided are used, it is more difficult for CAPTCHA systems to detect them, hence making them more effective. Additionally, the use of rotating servers optimizes the chances of succeeding CAPTCHA bypass as the chances of facing rate limiting as well as bot detection are lower.

How many IP addresses can a residential proxy list contain?

The exact number of IP addresses depends on the selected location and provider. You’ll get access to a pool of addresses available within the parameters you’ve chosen.