Last Updated on January 19, 2024 by theadmin

Static Residential Proxy Introduction: What Is a Residential Proxy and How Does It Work?

If you’re not using a static residential proxy in 2023 then it’s likely you’re wasting your money. Sure there are a few safe alternatives, but the majority of standard proxies now do little more than announce you’re using a proxy ! This obviously kind of defeats the object of using one for anonymity.

What is a Residential Proxy

It’s basically all down to the sort of IP addresses that it uses. Fundamentally a residential proxy will often be identical to a datacenter proxy apart from this key difference. The IP address that a proxy uses is arguably the most crucial component.

A residential proxy simply uses residential IP addresses. These are addresses registered directly with companies like telecoms and ISPs for users to access the internet. They are therefore the most trusted and safest IP address ranges to use. A residential proxy is much harder to detect than a standard proxy because of these addresses.

If, your connection is made using a residential IP address then you’ll look identical to any other standard user. Whereas if you connect using a datacenter IP address then there’s a high chance you’ll be flagged as suspicious. Some websites in certain situations completely block access from datacenter IP address ranges. This is because of the large chance they come from a proxy or VPN server.

How Residential IP Addresses are Obtained

The way the residential proxy assignment works is through the ISP. Simply the ISP assigns a residential IP range from the private address range assigned to them by the level 3 gateway or router. The ISP then assigns a number of these IP addresses to subscribers, which they share with their internet service providers.

So how do proxy companies get hold of these addresses? Well it’s been difficult and to obtain any quantity they have had to adopt different tactics. One of the most successful methods of obtaining residential IP addresses is to offer a service or software to ordinary home users. In exchange, they will allow the proxy company to relay through their home IP address. This technique has helped companies like Bright Data amass residential networks with millions of residential IP addresses.  It’s still a lot of expense to support this network which is why decent residential proxies are never that cheap.

Types of Residential Proxies

So remember, every residential proxy has one specific requirement – residential IP addresses. You should also be aware that there are some variants on these types of proxies too. Usually related to how those residential addresses are obtained and utilized.

There are a couple of issues with obtaining residential IP addresses directly from home users. Although this is wonderful for privacy and anonymity – the IP addresses are genuinely linked to a home internet connection. The proxy company has little control over the availability of the address. For example the IP address could disappear from the network without warning. This could happen if the host user logs out of the application or shuts their computer down. This means that the proxy would need to change IP address at that moment too.

Imagine how that looks from the website ! You’re just about to check out with those ultra rare concert tickets from Ticketmaster and suddenly your IP address changes without warning. It could easily cause the transaction to fail and possibly flag your account as suspicious (especially if it happens a lot). The reality is that residential addresses for normal home users don’t change like this. Which is why it’s a negative aspect of this method of obtaining IP addresses. Luck does plays some part in this and often your residential address won’t change much. However it depends on the task how much of an issue it’s likely to be.

Rotating Residential Proxy Services

Therefore, standard residential proxies configured like this are actually better described as rotating residential proxies (because the IP address is likely to change).

Uses of Residential Proxies

Of course all proxies have thousands of potential uses. Specifically residential proxies are for those tasks where it’s essential to look like a normal home user. This is the case in a surprising number of situations particularly when dealing with large sophisticated websites. These generally have advanced security and detection systems in place.

Basically residential proxies are the perfect solution if you want to be anonymous when surfing.

Use cases

Web data extraction

Scrape data from all over the web accurately using residential addresses in the correct location. Never get blocked, filtered or restricted.

E-commerce

Buy and sell online without restrictions using residential IPs. Track competition including inventory and prices. Plus place multiple adverts on sites like Craigslist without restriction.

Advert Technology

Verify your ads online by viewing as your customers will. Protect your brand and perform real time ad intelligence.

Travel Aggregation

Use residential IPs to gather and aggregate real time data/prices in sectors like travel. Switch residential IPs to prevent blocks.

Market research

Analyze business sectors and opportunities across the web. Analyze markets properly under cover of different residential identities.

Why a Static Residential Proxy

So a static residential proxy is one where you have more control over the IP addresses it uses. For this to happen, the source of the residential IP has to change. You cannot rely on a third party connection hosted elsewhere.

These proxies use directly registered IP addresses assigned from telecoms companies and Internet Service Providers. This means that no external routing or connection is required so they’ll be the fastest residential proxies on the market. It also means that the proxy can be completely hosted in fast secure data centers too.

ISP Proxies

This is the other name for the static residential proxy – ISP proxies. They refer to the source of the IP address registration – direct from the ISP. These are arguably the ultimate in current proxy solutions. They combine the anonymity of a standard residential proxy with exclusive access to a static residential IP.

These proxies can be a little more expensive to access but there’s little doubt that they are the safest and most anonymous solution currently available.  If you want the best residential proxies check out the ISP ones.

What’s the Difference Between Residential Proxy and Static Residential Proxy Servers?

There’s actually very little difference and simply refers to how the IP addresses are allocated.   A residential proxy will normally assign a residential IP address from a pool, these will be rotated periodically and shared among the other proxy users.  Whereas a static residential proxy will supply a fixed IP address which won’t change, you’ll normally have exclusive access to this.  Rotating proxies are great for supplying a large number of residential IP addresses for a low cost.