In this article, I will introduce for you 5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use Shared Proxies. When you share proxies between individuals, there are always consequences. Some businesses would rather have nothing to do with them. They don’t want to compromise their day-to-day tasks.
Let’s clear the air about proxies to steer you in the right direction for what is to come in this piece.
Proxies are servers if you like, that sits between you and the site you intend to visit. Proxy servers allow you to make an HTTP request to a website through them. In simplest terms, when a proxy is used, you don’t need to connect to the site with your real IP address.
First, let’s delve into the datacenter and residential proxy types for a moment.
Residential Proxies
Residential proxies are real IP addresses from Internet Service Providers (ISP). These proxies are for homeowners and connected to a physical location. One thing about these proxies is that they have a high level of anonymity.
Datacenter Proxies
Datacenter proxies are artificial and come from data centers from all around the world. They’re cheaper and readily available. These proxies do not have anything to do with your service provider. They’re easy to detect, unlike the residential proxy type.
Proxies can either be shared, semi-dedicated, and private.
Shared Proxy
These are proxies that allow two or more people to use them on the same server, at the same time. But they come with a slow connection because of the shared server itself. A minute or two delays could be the case while loading a page. You’ll have to contend with their shortcomings.
If you want to browse the web in anonymity and pass web filters, then this type of proxy could be good enough for you. You can also access specific content on a particular media streaming service.
We can’t talk about a shared proxy without mentioning a semi-dedicated proxy. It is quite similar to a shared proxy but differs in the number of users.
Semi-dedicated Proxy
In essence, a semi-dedicated proxy is also a shared proxy. The only difference is that it has less number of users on its server. Taking this into account, it offers better performance and speed.
Private Proxy
With a private proxy, you can access the internet without fear of an attack on your IP. It is an intermediary between you and the internet. When you use a private proxy, it is exclusive to you alone. So, it offers a high level of anonymity, better performance, and speed than the other types of proxy.
A request goes through a proxy server and connects to the internet to return an inquiry. The proxy will mask your IP address in the process.
A private proxy is also called a dedicated proxy. It is for one user at a given time. You cannot share it with anybody, so the full control is in your hands.
Anytime you connect to the internet, other websites can track your browsing activity. If you want to stay anonymous, you’ll have to hide your IP, and a private proxy suffices in this situation.
5 Reasons you shouldn’t use a Shared Proxy
The Bad Neighbor Effect
Some websites can blacklist your IP address when using a shared proxy. Even if you play to the rules, you can still end up getting blacklisted. This phenomenon is called “the bad neighbor effect.”
When you share a proxy with other people, you do so by also sharing an IP address. If anybody on that IP is involved in illegal activity, it bounces off to other users as well. The website will blacklist that IP address and everybody bears the brunt. Perhaps, you could request a new IP address if you’re using a paid service. But, isn’t it just time-consuming process?
Captcha Alert
As an example, when too many users on the same IP tries to reach Google at the same time, the search engine giant will introduce a captcha alert message. You’ll have to fill the captcha to proceed. It can be frustrating having to fill too many captcha messages in a short while.
Bandwidth Sharing
Dedicated proxies are for one person at a time. But, it is not the same with shared proxies; you’ll need to share speed and performance with other users. For that reason, they can be considerably slower.
Shared proxies have their shortcomings. If you are a business and value quality, I don’t come recommended for your daily activities. You don’t want to contend with the consequences and jeopardize your business activities.
Web Scraping
When scraping for data on a competitor’s website, you need an ample amount of IPs that proxies can provide. If that is not the case, you’ll run into the problem of being blocked by the desired data source. Using shared proxies for your web scraping project can easily lead to restrictions or blocks.
Low Level of Anonymity
Using a shared proxy reduces your anonymity level. It can expose you to a lot of dangers while surfing the internet. If you value your business, it should be no brainer about not using shared proxies.
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Final thoughts
Shared proxies are not the best type of proxies you’d want to use for business. Your security architecture may not be able to contend with an attack when it happens, so play smart. However, if you are on a budget, they can be a good enough solution. But, make sure that you buy it from a legitimate and trusted provider. My recommendation would be to obtain shared proxies from a premium proxy service provider.
