Residential proxies protect your real IP address by concealing it using an IP provided by internet service providers for their customers.
This is different from data center proxies whose IP is generated by the company you buy the proxies from. Residential proxies are therefore considered legitimate IPs compared to data center proxies.
Many users also prefer residential proxies because they are more reliable and offer more anonymity. It is also harder for website security systems to detect and block residential proxies compared to data center proxies.
Residential proxies, however, are much slower. This can be a great setback if the operations you want to carry out require speed e.g. scraping for air ticket prices or buying limited edition products.
Static proxies are the solution for this setback. They are much faster while still retaining the reliability and anonymity of residential proxies.
Static proxies and how they differ from rotating proxies
When you purchase residential proxy settings from a company, they could give you static or rotating IP addresses.
Static residential proxies retain their IP addresses every time you log in whether it is the same day or not. The only reason that could prompt the company to give you a new set of IPs is if the previous set is blocked by the websites you want to access.
If you are supplied with rotating proxies, also known as dynamic proxies, they keep changing at regular intervals. Some are set to change every time you log in afresh while others change per day.
The rotating IPs are usually data center proxies. They are quite cheap and can be bought in bulk, unlike static domestic proxies.
Also, since they keep changing, it is harder for websites to notice your frequent visits are from one computer system. Many websites, therefore, don’t register their logins as suspicious activities.
Rotating proxies, however, have one major flaw – a good website security system can easily observe that the IPs are not attached to any internet supplier.
Many websites with an above-average security system, therefore, block a majority of rotating proxies. This negates the benefits of buying the proxies in bulk since a considerable portion of them end up being blocked.
Static proxies, therefore, have the following advantages over rotating proxies:
- Reliability: Static proxies are rarely blocked since they have real IP addresses linked to an ISP.
- Speed: Static proxies have a higher speed compared to the average residential proxies.
- Anonymity: It is impossible to detect your real address concealed by the static proxy IP.
Cons of using static proxies
Static proxies are the closest thing to perfection because they embody the best qualities of the other types of proxies.
There is, however, still some risk associated with continued use of static proxies. Rotating proxies change their IPs quite frequently and this makes it difficult for data miners to track them.
When using static proxies, the IP doesn’t change as often thus giving data miners the time to identify and track the static IP. Extensive use of one static proxy can, therefore, make your computer system vulnerable to data mining bots and crawlers.
Therefore, if you are averse to data mining in your site, it is advisable to change the static proxy once in a while.
When you should use static proxies?
Static proxies can be used at any time when you need a proxy. But they are most needed in situations where using rotational proxies is not a viable option.
Rotating proxies can be detected and blocked by websites that have well-developed security systems. This is because rotating proxies keep changing IP addresses which are registered as suspicious proxy activity by the website systems.
The same systems, however, cannot detect static proxies so easily since the IP address remains stable for a long time. As a result, the security systems fail to identify them as proxies. Social media sites and digital retail sites are particularly known for blacklisting and blocking rotating proxies.
It is therefore advisable for you to use static proxies when accessing such sites that are sensitive to rotating proxies’ activities.
However, even when trying to access other types of websites, static proxies are still recommended because they offer a unique combination of high speed, reliability, and anonymity.
Conclusion
The primary purpose of proxies is to provide anonymity when you’re browsing certain websites that you can’t browse with your real IP address. When choosing proxies for these reasons, you just need to consider their ability to provide anonymity.
As proxies are needed for other purposes such as data mining and crawling, other features of proxies such as reliability and speed have become equally important. In developing proxies for these purposes, programmers have often had to sacrifice either speed or reliability. Static proxies make sure that you enjoy the positive attributes of proxies without compromising on anonymity, reliability, security, or speed.