Blocked websites are becoming an increasingly common reality, with over 67% of internet users living in countries that implement online censorship to some extent. In addition, Work, school, or other institutions may impose blocks, restricting access to certain types of content.
Fortunately, there are a variety of techniques and tools available to get around these limitations and access restricted websites. A residential proxy is one of the solutions that routes your internet traffic through a device connected to the internet through a domestic IP address.
Therefore, it gives the impression that you are accessing the internet from a residential location. This article provides a step-by-step guide to using residential proxies to unblock websites, but let’s first understand how residential proxies work.
How Do the Residential Proxies Work?
Residential proxies work by using intermediary servers to route your internet traffic through a vast pool of physical IP addresses across multiple locations worldwide. When you go online, your proxy server replaces your IP with an alternative one and channels your traffic through required servers on the web.
What distinguishes residential proxy from other proxies is that each unique IP address corresponds to an actual device, giving the impression that you are a legitimate user of the target website. That makes residential proxies ideal for online scraping for market research, ad verification, social media administration, and more. They also allow you to target specific areas and provide enhanced security via HTTPS encryption.
Residential proxies provide a reliable and secure online browsing experience when used correctly. Secure your online activity with these proxies and enjoy enhanced security and anonymity today. It’s essential to pay attention to your budget, use and purpose, automation compatibility, and geo-targeting needs when buying residential proxy services.
Using Residential Proxies to Unblock Websites: A Step-by-Step Guide
Unblocker proxies have become increasingly popular amongst internet users worldwide, with over 25% of users using them to access blocked websites or content. Nowadays, proxy users experience satisfaction with their experience, also improved privacy and bypass of censorship and restrictions as the primary benefits of using a proxy.
Whether you’re new to residential proxies or a veteran who needs help setting them up for a particular tool, check the step-by-step instructions below to simplify your proxy setup.
Step 1: Understand the Proxy IP Address
Before you can use residential proxies to unblock websites, you must first master the fundamentals of a proxy IP address. A proxy server consists of three major components: protocol, address, and port.
The type of content you may access through the proxy server is determined by the protocol. HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS are the three basic forms of protocols. HTTP and HTTPS facilitate website traffic, but HTTPS is more secure since it encrypts the data you send. On the other hand, SOCKS offers access to more diversified content.
The address aspect shows where the proxy server is located. The proxy server’s address can look like a regular IP (e.g., 192.168.0.1) or use a DNS hostname and look like a website (e.g., en.proxyprovidernet).
Finally, within your IP address, the port will indicate how you can reach the address. The port number doesn’t reflect the open proxy server – you’ll have to find that out from your provider. The two formats of a proxy IP address that you’re most likely to encounter are 192.168.0.1:10000 and en.proxyprovider.net:10000.
Step 2: Check Proxy Authentication Methods
If you’ve bought access to private proxies, you must authenticate them before using the proxy server. The two main authentication methods are credentials and IP whitelisting.
Credentials refer to a username and password. Apps may have separate fields or require adding credentials to the proxy IP address. In the latter case, the address would look like this: 192.168.0.1:10000:username: password. You most likely need to enter the credentials if your proxy server requires a password.
The IP Whitelisting allows you to specify an IP address that can access the proxy server. This method isn’t ideal if you have a dynamic IP, but it doesn’t modify the proxy IP address and doesn’t require any other fields like credentials.
Step 3: Set Up the Residential Proxy on an Operating System
Enabling a residential proxy server on an operating system will make all your connection requests through proxies successful. The settings apply system-wide unless you use applications that override them.
You can set up residential proxies on operating systems such as Windows 10, macO, iOS, Android, and Web Browser. There are multiple ways to use proxies on a web browser: via operating system settings, browser settings, or various browser extensions. If you’re not planning to have proxies on all the time, an extension is the best tool for the job.
To set up proxies on your web browser, follow these steps:
- Open your browser settings and navigate to the “Network Settings” or “Advanced Settings” section.
- Find the “Proxy Settings” option and click “Configure.”
Conclusion
Using an unblocker residential proxy is relatively simple. You only need a proxy server found online or purchased from a reputable provider. Once you have a residential proxy server, you must configure your browser or operating system to use the proxy server by entering the proxy server’s IP address and port into your browser or operating system’s settings. After that, you can access the blocked websites and content.
