Residential proxies are ultimate time-savers when you need to manage multiple social media or eCommerce accounts without entering CAPTCHAs with every request or, worse, get your original IP address blocked. However, there is a lot of information circulating the internet about residential proxies, and if you haven’t used one, you might simply get overwhelmed.
Luckily, today we are presenting a comprehensive guide on residential proxies — how to set up your first proxy, the most common use cases, and how residential proxies help avoid various restrictions.
What Are Residential Proxies?
Residential proxies are IP addresses borrowed from real-world devices, capable of accepting web traffic and transmitting it to the end request. The most popular residential proxy devices are personal and desktop computers or sometimes even tablets connected to the WiFi network.
Since the requests from the original IP address are being rerouted through another device’s IP address, the websites treat such requests as different yet completely regular visitors, helping users to stay anonymous while avoiding various restrictions.
The intermediary connection magic between your IP address and residential proxy happens in just a few steps:
- A residential proxy passes your internet traffic via an intermediary server.
- The server changes the original IP address of your request.
- Your unique IP address is masked, and you are identified as a unique website visitor.
What Is A Residential IP Address?
A residential IP address is registered under an ISP (Internet Service Provider) that offers network services to its customers. Internet service providers like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and others provide their customers residential IP addresses. Detailed information about a specific address can be found on any IP lookup website that supports ISP verification.
What Are Residential Proxies Used For?
Residential proxies have a lot of use cases. Users value this proxy type for their top-notch anonymity, allowing them to navigate the internet without worries. Here are examples of how residential proxies can help you, whether a business or an individual:
- Web scraping. Although the residential proxies are slower and may have connection issues as they are real devices, they are the most reliable when running scraping bots and extracting data from various websites.
- Ad verification is another common use case of residential proxies. When equipped, proxies can help you check and verify the ads displayed on your business website, allowing you to identify and block suspect advertisements.
- Market research. From checking competitors’ prices to monitoring their new developments, residential proxies help you to conduct informative market research and stay on top of the competition.
- SEO monitoring. Residential proxies support a list of Search Engine Optimization tools, helping you identify the target keywords competitors are ranking on and the traffic source.
- Multiple social media and eCommerce accounts management. Most social media and online commerce platforms do not allow having multiple accounts. And if the platform identifies that you are running a few accounts under one IP address, you might be unpleasantly surprised by getting a message that your IP address was banned due to the violation of the terms. Residential proxies mask the original IP address, allowing users to manage different accounts while making websites think it’s a unique request.
You can learn more about residential proxies use cases by heading to our Use Cases page.
How Do Providers Form Their Residential IP Pools?
Almost every leading residential IP provider offers millions of IP addresses available in hundreds of countries around the globe. However, the numbers might spark some questions for someone unfamiliar with the residential proxies processes. There are three ways providers build their IP pools:
The first method is inviting end users to share their internet resources through SDK, a piece of code included in popular applications or browser extensions.
Second way for providers to build their residential IP pools is to purchase traffic from people directly with the help of various platforms that allow users to earn money for lending their IP addresses to the providers.
The last and the least reputable way to gather millions of IPs is to inject malware into users’ devices and turn them into botnets. Although trusted companies never use this method to build their IP pools, those that are offering free residential proxies or have surprisingly cheap services might pose a risk to your security.
Are Residential Proxies Ethical?
Residential proxies have always raised questions about whether using another person’s IP address for your needs is ethical. Another concern is if the residential proxies don’t open a new way for abusers to conduct criminal activity under another user’s virtual identity.
At Metrow, we are taking security seriously. All the IP addresses in the residential proxies pool have their original person’s consent. Users using proxies must go through verification steps to access various websites.
What Will You Get with Metrow Residential Proxies
- Unlimited proxies for every user, helping you avoid restrictions by switching IP addresses as you go.
- Premium IP pool with more than 10 million IP addresses. Carefully vetted by our team to guarantee uninterrupted anonymity throughout your whole browsing experience.
- Global coverage — more than 190 locations available. Switch your IP to the country of your preference.
- 99.9% uptime, guaranteeing stable connection for even the most traffic-intensive tasks.
- Fast-responsive support — helping you through your whole proxy setup and usage journey.
Metrow Residential Proxies Technical Specifications
Residential proxies do not have to be complicated. From their purchasing and setup to the first connection with a brand new IP address, Metrow is redefining how people use their residential proxies.
- Easy-to-use dashboard — purchase or renew your residential proxies subscription, view daily usage and other valuable information at a glance in a convenient self-service powered dashboard.
- Extensive location support — enable the city/country/state location targeting in just a few minutes.
- Fast & slow IP address rotation allows you to change IP address with every request or keep the same address for one, ten, or 30 minutes before switching to a new one.
- IP whitelisting is also available aside from the traditional user:password authentication.
- Unlimited concurrent sessions, helping you scale and optimize your business without any restrictions.
Residential Proxies Price and Subscriptions
Metrow offers high-quality residential proxies at affordable subscription plans. Whether you want to test our extensive IP address pool or need a trusted residential proxy provider, you will find a subscription that fits your needs.
Pricing Plans
Our subscription plans are based on traffic usage instead of paying per IP address.
- Residential proxies trial (100MB) — $2/day + VAT
- Newbie (1GB) — $10/month + VAT
- Starter (5GB) — $47.5/month + VAT
- Plus (10GB) — $90/month + VAT
It is important to note that the traffic does not pass to the next month and each subscription has a minimum one-month commitment. If you want to learn more about the available subscriptions, head to our Residential Proxies pricing page.
We are also open to learning more about your residential proxies needs — to get a custom subscription offer, contact our customer support team.
How to Use Self-Service Dashboard?
Our dashboard is equipped with a handy top-up feature, so you can upgrade your subscription in just a few minutes if your account is running low on data. And in case you have just purchased your first residential proxies subscription, here’s a quick guide on navigating through your dashboard.
Generate Proxies
In the dashboard, click the ‘Generate Proxies’ button in the upper right corner. In seconds, proxy generator will activate and automatically create a number of IP addresses with information. In this dashboard tab you can also conveniently view the authentication methods, change passwords, locations and rotation settings, as well as copy all your available IP addresses with a click of a button.
Chrome Proxy Extension
If you need a browser extension, go to the dashboard and click the ‘Chrome Proxy Extension’ button on the left navigation bar. When downloaded, the extension will help you quickly change residential proxies profiles, create multiple proxy profiles and more.
Documentation
When you are searching for instructions on how to set up your proxies or want to learn more about blocked targets, you can head to Metrow knowledge base by clicking ‘Documentation’ on the left bar.
Support
Our support is ready to help you and answer any questions. If you are experiencing connection issues, need assistance setting up your first residential proxy, or have a question regarding your payment, press the ‘Support’ button.
Account Management
This dashboard tab allows you to change your current password to a new one, view your username and billing address.
How To Whitelist Your Residential Proxies?
Most of the residential proxies’ users use a traditional user:password authentication method. However, to give you more flexibility, Metrow also offers IP whitelisting, letting you access residential proxies by connecting with IP addresses that are whitelisted. There are two ways you can whitelist your preferred IPs.
Edit IP Address
- In the proxy generator tab, click the ‘Edit’ button
- Add the IPs you want to whitelist and click ‘Save.' After saving your IP addresses, your IPs will be automatically whitelisted.
Activate Current IP Address
For this method, click ‘Activate’ in the proxy generator tab, and your IP addresses will be automatically whitelisted.
Once the whitelisted IP addresses are activated, you will see all your whitelisted IPs with a green bubble next to them.
If you no longer need to use this feature, simply click the ‘Deactivate’ button.
Bottom Line
We hope this guide helped you learn the fundamentals of residential proxies, and now you are ready to start using your proxies. From adding an enhanced security layer when browsing the internet to staying undetectable when performing various tasks like SEO monitoring, market search and data extraction, residential proxy is a reliable security shield every person should add to their toolbox.
And if there are questions left unanswered — don’t hesitate to contact our support team!
