Why are proxies are not working?

4 min. readlast update: 10.17.2023

We are sorry to hear that your proxies are not working as intended. Let's try to solve this!

Which type of proxies are you using?

  • Datacenter, premium, or dedicated proxies
    • IP authentication
    • Redownload your proxies
    • Program misconfiguration
    • Target bans 
    • Other possible issues
      • ISP Blocks
      • Using an online proxy checker
  • Residential proxies
  • Free proxies

Datacenter, premium, or dedicated proxies

Most issues with these proxies are easy to fix; let's start by the start!

IP authentication

This type of proxies requires IP authentication before using them. IP authentication lets our proxies know from what device you will be connecting.

Here is how to authenticate your IP(s):

  • Start by going to the IP authentication page.
  • Next, if you want to use the proxies on the device, you are currently on, click the "my IP" button as displayed in the screenshot below.
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  • If you are not on the device you want to use the proxies on, please go to https://api.ipify.org/ on the device you want to use the proxies on, and type the displayed text into the IP address box on your dashboard.
  • Finally, click "save".
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The proxies only support IPv4 authentication, not IPv6.

Please note that the confirmation message asks you to wait 10 minutes. This is because your IP address has to be synchronized & authenticated on all your proxies. If you do not wait 10 minutes, then the proxies might not work on your device.

Redownload your proxies

You might not be using the correct proxies by accident, or we recently changed your proxies, and you did not see our update email. No worries, this can happen! You can redownload your proxies via the proxy list page.

Program misconfiguration 

There are quite a few things that can be misconfigured in a program, and not all the programs are the same, so it is not possible to list all the different things that go wrong.

Here is a list of general things that can go wrong in a program configuration:

  • Timeout settings:

The timeout is the maximum time you allow your program to receive a response from your target. Ensure you type your timeout correctly and double-check whether the timeout is in seconds or milliseconds (1 second is 1000 milliseconds).

The average timeout to receive a response from a simple & fast website through the proxies is 300-700 milliseconds. If you are loading a big or slow website, please make sure to increase your timeout.

  • Wrong proxy protocol

Make sure you select the correct proxy protocol in your program. Proxies ending with port :3128 are HTTP(s) proxies, and proxies ending with :1080 are Socks4 and Socks5. Selecting the wrong protocol will cause the proxies not to work.

  • Using too many threads

Threads are the number of concurrent jobs you want your program to perform. Using too many threads may cause your system or the target website to be overloaded, and as a result, your connections will fail.

  • Target is offline

Make sure to double-check if you have entered the correct target website and if it's online. If your target website is offline, then your proxies will also be marked as offline.

Target website bans

There are a few reasons why a proxy might be banned from your target website:

  • wrong geolocation
  • used the proxy too much
  • proxy has a bad reputation 

Other possible issues 

Above, we have listed the most common issues. Here are some other issues if the above solutions did not help:

  • ISP blocks

Under very rare circumstances, your ISP might be blocking connections to our proxies. Please contact your ISP to make sure this is not the case.

  • Using an online proxy checker

Our proxies are not compatible with online proxy checkers. This is because it is not possible to authenticate the IP of their servers. To test the proxies, please use a local proxy checker.

Residential proxies

These are very few things that can go wrong with the residential proxies. Please ensure you are providing your program with the correct username and password.

Free proxies

If a free proxy is not working, likely, it went offline. You can download new proxies here.

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