What Is a Residential Proxy? How to Use a Residential Proxy?

9Proxy
7 min readJun 24, 2024

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Did you know 9Proxy is a residential proxy provider? So, what is a residential proxy and how to use one? We’ve got simple answers.

What Is a Residential Proxy?

Residential proxies are a big network of real IP addresses provided by internet service companies. A residential proxy hides the user’s real location, giving you extra privacy. With a residential proxy, you can create a real online presence in a chosen place, like a specific country, city, or mobile network. This allows you to browse the internet as if you were a local user.

Still confused? Check out our other article explaining a proxy that even a 9-year-old can understand.

How Does a Residential Proxy Work?

Think of a residential proxy as a middleman between your devices and the websites you visit. This middleman helps you stay anonymous by hiding your identity and location while you browse the internet.

When you do a search, the residential proxy gives you a different, real IP address. It uses someone else’s IP address from a pool and makes it look like yours, so you can appear to be anywhere in the world. This makes your online actions seem normal to websites. It’s like pretending you’ve moved to any country you choose. Isn’t that awesome?

A residential acts as a middleman between you and the internet

What Are the Types of Residential Proxies?

There are various types of residential proxies, each serving a specific purpose. Let’s look at some of them to understand their capabilities better.

Shared Residential Proxies

9Proxy falls into this category. Shared residential proxies are known for their affordability, making them some of the cheapest options available. Despite not being secure and reliable as dedicated residential proxies, they offer decent speed thanks to their powerful network setup.

Dedicated Residential Proxies

If you need the highest level of privacy and security, dedicated residential proxies are the best choice. They provide high speeds and reliable connections. The downside is that they are more complicated to set up and are generally more expensive.

Mobile Residential Proxies

Similar to dedicated residential proxies, mobile residential proxies offer a high level of privacy and security. However, they use mobile IP addresses to access websites. The main disadvantage is that they are blocked more often than other types of proxies.

Rotating Residential Proxies

Rotating residential proxies work differently by changing their IP addresses randomly after a certain period. This rotation makes them harder to detect and one of the safest types of proxies available. However, they can be expensive.

What Is a Residential Proxy Used for?

You can use a residential proxy for a lot of purposes. Some people use residential proxies for good intentions, while others misuse them for illegal activities. It is better to stay out of anything that goes against the law.

Social Media Management

Social media is a crucial part of today’s web marketing. Residential proxies allow you to manage multiple social media accounts on one device, making it easier to handle various profiles efficiently.

Market Price Monitoring

If your business depends on staying competitive with pricing, residential proxies are very useful. They help you collect data, monitor market trends, and adjust prices accordingly, ensuring your customers keep coming back. You can also use different sales intelligence tools with these proxies.

Web Data Scraping

Companies use residential proxies to gather large amounts of data and monitor competitors. Residential proxies are ideal for web scraping because they are used by real humans and are less likely to be detected.

Site Unblocking

Many service providers restrict access to their content based on location. Residential proxies help you bypass these geo-blocks, allowing access to content from anywhere in the world. This is especially important in countries where access to information is restricted.

Is It Legal to Use a Residential Proxy?

Yes, it is legal to use a residential proxy. Residential proxies are legal because everyone has the right to browse the internet safely and anonymously. For businesses, residential proxies are beneficial as they help monitor competitors, study market trends, and protect brand reputation.

With that being said, we recommend you not use your residential proxy for anything that is forbidden by the law. Check out our article on the legality of proxies here.

What Are the Benefits of a Residential Proxy?

A residential proxy might not be as cheap as other types. However, a residential proxy can offer you a lot of benefits that you may not have known.

Privacy and Anonymity

While using a residential proxy, your internet activities remain anonymous, safeguarding your privacy. Websites will only see the IP address of the proxy you have chosen, not yours. This prevents targeted advertisements based on your browsing habits. This is especially crucial when visiting sensitive websites, as it helps hide your internet traffic.

Better Security

A residential proxy strengthens your online security by making it harder for malicious threats to compromise your device and network. With a residential proxy, your internet traffic remains hidden from harmful parties. As a result, your IP address is concealed from potential hackers, which is vital in today’s era of prevalent cybercrime.

Circumvention of Blocked IP Problems

A residential proxy enables access to sites, games, and apps that may have blocked your IP address. This is beneficial for continued use of social media apps and other platforms, even in the face of account or IP restrictions.

Bypassing Geo-Restrictions

A residential proxy can circumvent geo-restrictions, granting access to content from any location. Unlike other proxy types, which are often detected by websites and search engines, residential proxies are not easily identifiable, offering a more seamless browsing experience.

Unlimited Bandwidth

With a residential proxy, you can enjoy unlimited bandwidth for uploading and downloading files. This eliminates concerns about exceeding data limits and incurring additional charges. The result is a faster browsing experience. This feature is especially helpful for downloading large files or streaming high-definition videos. 9Proxy is specialized in this feature.

How to Use a Residential Proxy?

Setting up a residential proxy involves several steps, and the process may differ depending on the provider you choose.

There are many providers available. Pick one that meets your needs and fits your budget. Some options include 9Proxy, Smartproxy, IPRoyal, and SOAX.

If you go with 9Proxy, the instructions are simple and presented below. With 9Proxy, you will get access to a variety of residential proxies from real devices. This helps you stay anonymous while browsing the internet. With actual over 9 million residential IP addresses at your disposal, your browsing will be smooth and hard to detect.

Here are some basic steps to use a residential proxy:

1. Create an Account: On 9Proxy’s website, you can create an account using your email.

2. Choose Your Preferred Package: 9Proxy offers a wide range of different proxy deals. This ranges from 100 IPs to 15000 IPs per package. Pick one that suits your budget and purposes. If you want a different number of IPs, contact customer service, we can help you.

3. Downloading the 9Proxy Client Software: Go to 9Proxy’s website to install and set up the proxy software. Just log in with the account you just created.

4. Test the Proxy: After connecting, test the proxy. Try visiting websites and services that you normally couldn’t access with a non-residential IP address. This will ensure the proxy is working properly.

Resolving Common Residential 9Proxy Setup Issues

Setting up a residential proxy can sometimes be tricky, and problems may arise. Here are some troubleshooting tips to help you fix common issues:

- Check if any firewall or security settings are blocking your connection to the proxy software.

- If you can’t connect, try using a different browser or computer to test the connection.

- Ensure that the website or service you’re trying to access isn’t blocked by the proxy server.

- Verify that there are no other proxies configured in your browser settings that could be causing interference.

If you still haven’t figured out a solution, just contact customer service, they are available 24/7.

Conclusion

In conclusion, what is a residential proxy? It is a mediator between your computer and the internet, allowing you privacy as you surf the web. A residential proxy network allows you to appear as if you are from another city and another country. This helps you bypass some websites that block you based on your geographical IP address.

How to use a residential proxy? With 9Proxy, the process is really simple. Once you have downloaded the app and created your account, you’re good to go.

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9Proxy

Residential proxy provider with more than 90 countries available. We are here to give you helpful blogs. Visit us at https://9proxy.com/