Private proxy providers come in every shape and form. There are the old ones and then the new ones. Some providers are professionals and while others are not. And then there are the ones that are simply scams and all they do is to rip off their customers. So, if you run into a private proxy provider that is not as professional as you want or if their proxies are not working as you were expecting, then you should consider changing providers. But, first, before changing your provider, you must look for another provider and ask certain questions before actually moving your business to another one. This is where this article comes in handy. Here you will find six question that you need to ask yourself and even potentially new private proxy provider before switching to them.
1. Do they offer special use proxies
Most likely then not, you will need special use proxies for your projects, such as social media proxies or classified ads proxies. Thus, before even considering a new proxy provider, browse their website to look for any mentions of special use proxies. They should have proxy packages with the name of the service on which you need to use your proxies. Such as Instagram proxies if you plan on using social media proxies for Instagram. Or Craigslist proxies or classified ads proxies if you are using your private proxies on classified ads websites.
2. What is the billing cycle?
Before even asking this question, you must consider your budget and how many proxies do you need. And then look for proxy providers with favorable billing cycles.
Usually, a longer billing cycle means that you pay your proxies at a discount. So if you break the actual cost to the number of months of your billing cycle, you should be able to pay less (as an overall cost) if you choose a billing cycle longer than one month.
3. Can you refresh your proxy package's IPs?
Sometimes your proxy use could enforce some blocks on your proxy’s IPs. This is normal and it usually happens when proxy's use it is taken to the extreme. This is why most proxy providers offer the option of IP randomization or IP refresh. This simply means that after a given period of time, usually 30 days or a billing cycle, you are allowed to switch your IPs. For example, if you have 10 proxies and ask for an IP refresh, you will get 10 fresh new IPs instead of the old ones that you used until now.
This option comes in handy, especially if your project makes a large number of requests and uses your proxies intensively. So, ask your potential new proxy provider when and under what conditions are you entitled for an IP refresh.
4. Proxy login methods?
All good until now, you switched to the new proxy provider, you received your proxies, but you are not able to login. Your provider uses id and pass login while your project or your software can't be configured to do id and pass login, but only IP auth. Now there is a problem as you won’t be able to use your proxies at all.
If you do not like this scenario, then ask your proxy provider what are the auth methods you can use for your private proxies. Ideally, you should find a proxy provider offering both id:pass and IP auth methods.
5. Where are the negative reviews?
What is better than a positive review? A negative one! You should search on forums, such as Blackhatworld.com or review websites not for positive comments, but for the negative ones.
Negative comments and the number of such comments is a better indication of how professional a proxy provider is and how great their private proxies are. However, do not expect a proxy provider with only favorable comments. Like all businesses, even the bests ones have negative reviews and comments. So look for those and try to identify if there are any patterns or recurring issues.
6. Is their customer support rapid in response?
Nothing says more about a business then how they treat their potential or current customers. So, all you have to do is to open a couple of support tickets and wait for them to reply to you. Unfortunately, some proxy providers will take several days, up to a week to respond to emails. This is a clear sign that if you will have any issues later on, they will not be prompt in their response. So you should consider even this aspect when considering a new proxy provider.
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
