What on Earth is a Residential IP Proxy Service ?
If you’re surfing the internet, you have an IP address. In fact it’s simply impossible to get online without one irrespective of the device you’re using or where from. It doesn’t matter if you are surfing from home on a computer, browsing on the train with a laptop or surfing in a cafe whilst sipping a latte. The internet is built on the internet protocol and it simply doesn’t work without these addresses.
The address you’re using is unique, there isn’t another one identical anywhere on the internet. Consequently it’s worth remembering that this address can be tracked back to the device and location you’re using it from.
Depending on where you live this has consequences, in a safe democratic country it’s more about privacy. However in some countries and in some situations it could be a matter of life and death. Being unique is not a good way to blend in to the crowd or to stay hidden.
It’s hard to underestimate the impact this little network number has on our lives today. Needless to say, it is analysed, logged, filtered and recorded by all sorts of people, companies and organisations online. Sometimes this is fairly harmless, after all Google using your address to help present relevant search results doesn’t seem too worrying. Otherwise you’d search for electricians and could get results from the other side of the world. Yet is is also used to identify your location for marketing reasons, quietly channeling you to where the company can make the best profits.
The risk in some places is of course, much higher. If you sat at home posting anti-government political comments in somewhere like Iran or China, you could expect a knock on the door soon after. Take for example the rather sad tale of Uncle SMS who died in jail convicted of posting insults about the Thai Royal family online. The comments were tracked back to the IP address of a mobile phone and used to prosecute him under some medieval type laws – here’s the link if you want to read more.
Hiding your IP Address – for the Professionals
It’s hardly surprising then that actually millions of people across the world actively hide their IP addresses for all sorts of reasons. They use VPNs, proxies and anonymous services like TOR to keep hidden and encrypt their data. All of these methods work to some extent, and if you just want to stay hidden there’s loads of options available. However there is a growing problem with many of these services, related to the classification of the IP addresses use.
Take for example a VPN, 99% of these use servers housed in modern, fast datacentres which is the logical place for them to sit. However they are also assigned IP addresses from ranges registered to those datacentres clearly marked as commercial addresses. This is the problem, you will not look like an ordinary home user when using these services. You will be flagged as originating from a commercial data centre and there is a high possibility that it originates from a VPN or proxy service.
Now this won’t matter for a lot of people, the crucial aspect of a VPN is it hides your browsing history and content by encrypting your connection. It can be identified that you’re using a proxy or VPN server from this address although some advanced services like Identity Cloaker can keep this hidden to a certain extent too.
The problem comes if you need more than just privacy, many people need to look like normal home users too. There are loads of examples – people in e-commerce enterprises, research firms, bloggers and internet marketers to name but a few. All of these people not only need to hide their real address but to replace it with a home based one too. Many major websites will distinguish between commercial and residential based on your IP address as a matter of course.
All the large social media sites like Instagram, Twitter and others check for IP address classification to help block people artificially promoting or managing multiple accounts. Lots of E-commerce servers will flag commercial addresses to detect for reselling and people trying to make multiple purchases. Netflix has blocked all access to non-residential addresses for quite a while now in order to prevent people using VPNs switching to different versions of the site (US version is much bigger than most other locales).
The Future is Likely to be a Residential IP Proxy Service
Most of the uses of proxies are focused around hiding your identity in some way or form. For most purposes at the moment, simple datacentre proxies and VPNs are sufficient for basic privacy. However if you want to buy something, research or promote then the commercial IP address is always going to be the achilles heel of these services. They can be detected with very little effort, there are numerous paid databases which can be used to look up the registrations dynamically.
If I owned a media site and wanted to restrict access to domestic home customers, then the most effective method to do this is to block non-residential addresses. Social networks all flag these addresses and you won’t be able to buy special releases on sneaker sites using commercial addresses too. The vast array of automated software and bots will almost certainly need residential addresses too.
The most advanced have the capacity to expand their network to include residential addresses, for example I know that Identity Cloaker has US residential addresses like these. However currently they’re only routed through Netflix for accessing the US version and you can’t buy residential ips for your sole use.
The problem is obtaining these addresses is difficult and potentially expensive. You can buy them from ISPs however they’re unlikely to release block and most will only sell as part of an internet access package. This instantly makes them much more expensive than the corresponding commercial addresses. However there are methods and a few firms have learnt how to create residential proxies and make them affordable. Certainly over the last few years some providers have built up extensive residential networks that can be used very effectively.
The bigger providers usually offer the ability to blend IPs too, so you can switch between different types of addresses as and when required. Others have the ability to automatically rotate the addresses through backconnect servers, which can ensure exclusivity while reducing the unit price compared to static residential proxies.
If you have a specific need it can be cheaper and more effective to buy for that purpose only. So for example you can buy supreme residential proxies or those for use with just Instagram.
One of the most innovative and best value residential IP proxy services is run by Storm Networks who are definitely worth checking out if you need access to residential IPs.
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