The Complete Proxy Taxonomy
| Type | IP Source | Pool Size | Cost/GB | Detection Risk | Stability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Datacenter | AWS, GCP, Hetzner | Millions | $0.50-2 | Very High | Excellent |
| Residential | Home ISP users | 10M-100M+ | $3-8 | Medium | Poor-Medium |
| ISP | ISP business IPs | 100K-1M | $4-10 | Medium-Low | Good |
| Mobile 4G/5G | Carrier CGNAT | Variable | $8-21 | Very Low | Medium |
| Peer-to-peer | Consumer devices | Millions | $1-3 | Low-Medium | Poor |
Residential Proxies: How They're Built
Residential proxy networks aggregate IPs from real home users. The sourcing methods range from legitimate opt-in programs to ethically questionable SDK embedding:
- Opt-in bandwidth sharing: Users install a browser extension or app that shares idle bandwidth in exchange for rewards. IPRoyal Pawns, Honeygain use this model.
- SDK integration: App developers embed a proxy SDK into their apps. Users "consent" via ToS. Luminati (now Bright Data) pioneered this model.
- VPN users: Some free VPN providers monetize user bandwidth by routing proxy traffic through connected users.
Residential Pool Quality Issues
Residential proxy pools degrade over time. High-value IPs (US, EU residential) get used heavily for scraping. Target sites see repeated requests from the same residential IP → flag → block. The IP "burns." Pool quality is measured by burn rate — how quickly IPs get flagged on specific targets.
Quality tiers: premium providers (BrightData, Oxylabs) have faster IP refresh and better burn detection. Budget providers reuse burned IPs longer. With ProxifyPRO self-hosted mobile, you control burn status — your dongle's IP is only used by you.
ISP Proxies: The Underrated Middle Ground
ISP proxies use IPs assigned by internet service providers to business customers. Unlike residential (consumer home IPs) or datacenter (hosting provider IPs), these are legitimate business-class ISP allocations.
Why ISP Proxies Are Stable
Residential IPs change frequently — home users get DHCP renewals, change ISPs, disconnect. ISP business IPs are typically static or semi-static. A business IP assigned to a Chicago office stays that IP for months. This means: predictable geolocation, stable ASN classification, and consistent performance.
ISP Proxy Use Cases
- Geotargeted scraping: Need US East Coast IPs specifically? ISP proxies give precise geographic targeting without the instability of residential
- Long-running sessions: When the same IP needs to persist for hours without changing (logged-in scraping, account management)
- Ad verification: Check which ads appear for specific business-class IPs in target cities
- SEO rank checking: Verify rankings from specific city ISP IPs
Mobile 4G/5G: The Technical Advantage
Mobile proxies route through real cellular network connections. The technical chain: your request → proxy device → carrier tower → carrier backbone → target server. The target server sees the carrier's CGNAT IP — the same IP used by thousands of real phones simultaneously.
CGNAT: Why Detection is Nearly Impossible
CGNAT (RFC 6598) assigns private IPs (100.64.0.0/10 range) to individual devices and maps them to shared public IPs. When a site wants to block a mobile proxy IP, blocking it would also block thousands of legitimate users on the same carrier. Sites simply cannot afford this — it's why mobile IPs are near-unblockable.
Self-Hosted Mobile (ProxifyPRO) vs Commercial
Commercial mobile providers aggregate bandwidth from others' connections and resell per-GB. ProxifyPRO connects directly to carriers via USB dongles. Differences: you get dedicated IPs (no sharing with other ProxifyPRO users), unlimited bandwidth at fixed cost, full control over rotation timing, and ability to rent excess capacity on the marketplace.
Pool Mechanics and Rotation
Each proxy type handles rotation differently:
- Residential: Request a new IP → provider assigns from pool → new IP per request or sticky session
- ISP: Fewer IPs, session-based. Change IP by requesting new session from provider
- Mobile self-hosted: AT command resets PDP context → carrier assigns new IP from CGNAT pool (~16 seconds)
- Mobile commercial: Provider manages rotation across their device fleet
Detection Profiles by Type
| Detection Method | Residential | ISP | Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASN reputation DB | Usually clean | Clean | Clean (carrier) |
| IP velocity check | Detected if shared | Low risk | Natural CGNAT |
| Reverse DNS | Consumer ISP names | Business names | Carrier names |
| TLS fingerprint | Proxy stack leak | Proxy stack leak | Real mobile OS |
| Behavioral consistency | Medium | Medium | High (real device) |
Selection Guide
Choose based on your target, volume, and budget:
- High-volume, low-protection targets → Datacenter (cheapest at scale)
- E-commerce, search engines → Residential (proven track record)
- Geotargeted, long sessions → ISP (stable, geographic precision)
- Social media, Cloudflare sites → Mobile (best detection evasion)
- Mixed workloads at scale → Tiered approach: cheap type first, escalate to mobile only when needed
Self-hosted mobile proxies solve the economics problem. At scale, commercial mobile proxy costs are prohibitive ($8-21/GB). ProxifyPRO's fixed-cost model ($60-600/month unlimited bandwidth) makes mobile proxy economics viable for any team.