--- title: "Common Proxy Questions Answered" slug: common-proxy-questions date: 2019-06-25T10:14:24+00:00 modified: 2026-04-27T08:31:53+00:00 permalink: https://brightdata.com/blog/proxy-101/common-proxy-questions type: blog --- [ Blog ](https://brightdata.com/blog "Blog") / [Proxy 101](https://brightdata.com/blog/proxy-101) [Proxy 101](https://brightdata.com/blog/proxy-101) # Common Proxy Questions Answered Your common proxy questions answered in this blog post 2 min read [ ](https://brightdata.com/blog/authors/roni-sarfati) [Roni Sarfati Director of business development ](https://brightdata.com/blog/authors/roni-sarfati) ![Proxy questions and their answers too](https://media.brightdata.com/2019/06/blog_questions.png) ## What is a proxy? The term **“**proxy**“** refers to an IP address which is the personal addresses of every device connected to the internet. These addresses include information about the type of device being used, location of the device and carrier of the user. ## How do proxies work? [**Proxies**](/proxy-types) are a connection to a server that sends your requests through *alternate IP addresses* and then to the target site. ## Why do I need a proxy? A proxy is used when a person or company requires a different IP type such as residential, mobile or datacenter IPs, an IP with a different device location, or both. This is needed when a website blocks you or prompts you to input a captcha. ## What is a proxy used for? A proxy is used to [**collect data**](/products/web-scraper) from the web, manage accounts online, make purchases from other countries, collect pricing data and much more. ## What is proxy service? A [**proxy service**](/proxy-types) is a software, server or group of servers that acts as a gateway to a network of Data center, Residential and/or Mobile proxies. ## What are data center proxies? A [**datacenter proxy**](/proxy-types/datacenter-proxies) is a machine-generated IP address that is served by a data center server. ## What is a residential proxy? A residential proxy is assigned from an Internet Service Provider to a user. ## What is a mobile proxy? A [**mobile proxy**](/proxy-types) is a 3G/4G connection assigned from a mobile carrier to a user. ## How do residential proxies work? [**Residential proxies**](/proxy-types/residential-proxies) are a connection to a real-user IP that has all the characteristics of a real device. ## What is a proxy server used for? Proxy servers provide the ability to connect to a network of alternative IP addresses. ## Is a proxy server necessary? Yes, proxy servers are necessary when you require an IP address from a different geolocation. ## What is a proxy server? A proxy serve**r** is a middle-man linking your device to a server where all requests sent are routed through the server before reaching the target site. **What you get by joining Bright Data’s proxy network:** 1. Your own personal Bright Data representative to set-up your account 2. Access to the largest residential proxy network in the world 3. 24/7 support no matter where you are 4. **We will match your first deposit of $20-250!** Start free trial[Start free with Google](# "Start free with Google") Roni Sarfati Director of business development Experienced Senior Business Development Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the online media industry and SaaS. Skilled in Negotiation, Business Planning, Operations Management, Analytical Skills, and Import. Strong sales professional with a BA focused in Political Science from Tel Aviv University. [ View all articles ](https://brightdata.com/blog/authors/roni-sarfati) Table of Contents 400M+ Residential Proxies **Get 50% off** on residential proxies for 6 months! Use code **RESIGB50**. [See pricing](/pricing/proxy-network/residential-proxies "See pricing") 1.3M+ Datacenter Proxies Pay only for the IP, starting from $0.90. [See pricing](/pricing/proxy-network/datacenter-proxies "See pricing") [ ](https://news.ycombinator.com/submitlink?t=Common+Proxy+Questions+Answered&u=https://brightdata.com/blog/proxy-101/common-proxy-questions) [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&title=Common+Proxy+Questions+Answered&url=https://brightdata.com/blog/proxy-101/common-proxy-questions) [ ](http://www.reddit.com/submit?title=Common+Proxy+Questions+Answered&url=https://brightdata.com/blog/proxy-101/common-proxy-questions) ## You might also be interested in [ ](https://brightdata.com/blog/ai/openhuman-with-bright-data "Production-Ready Web Access in OpenHuman Through the Bright Data CLI") [AI Antonello Zanini Technical Writer ### Production-Ready Web Access in OpenHuman Through the Bright Data CLI Integrate Bright Data CLI with OpenHuman to enable production-ready web access and data collection for AI agents. 09-Sep-2026 12 min read ](https://brightdata.com/blog/ai/openhuman-with-bright-data) [ ](https://brightdata.com/blog/ai/minimax-m3-with-bright-data "Giving self-hosted MiniMax M3 agents live web access with Bright Data") [AI Satyam Tripathi Technical Writer ### Giving self-hosted MiniMax M3 agents live web access with Bright Data Self-hosted MiniMax M3 agents get live web access using Bright Data’s search and scraping tools. Bypass blocks and CAPTCHAs. 09-Sep-2026 54 min read ](https://brightdata.com/blog/ai/minimax-m3-with-bright-data) [ ](https://brightdata.com/blog/web-data/multimodal-web-scraping-with-minimax "Multimodal Web Scraping with MiniMax") [Web Data Antonello Zanini Technical Writer ### Multimodal Web Scraping with MiniMax Pair Bright Data Web Unlocker with MiniMax M3 vision to extract structured data from images and web page screenshots. 09-Sep-2026 4 min read ](https://brightdata.com/blog/web-data/multimodal-web-scraping-with-minimax)