Proxy Questions, Answered
Answers to the questions people ask once a proxy is running: what an error means, why a checker flags a setup and how detection works. Each one starts with the short answer and cites the docs behind it.
Start from the message you see
The wording of a block page tells you who sent it, and who sent it tells you where to look. Find your message, then open the page next to it.
| The message | Who usually sends it | Read |
|---|---|---|
Sorry, you have been blocked | A Cloudflare firewall rule set by the site | Sorry, you have been blocked |
Verify you are human | A Cloudflare challenge page or Turnstile widget | Cloudflare Turnstile explained |
Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network | Google Search | Google unusual traffic |
Request unsuccessful. Incapsula incident ID | Imperva, the site's bot and firewall service | Incapsula incident ID |
Press & Hold | HUMAN Security bot defense | Press and hold CAPTCHA |
Try Again Later | An Instagram action limit | Instagram try again later |
No internet connection | The TikTok app, while other apps still load | TikTok no internet connection |
You've been blocked by network security | Reddit account and shadowban checks | |
407 Proxy Authentication Required | Your proxy, refusing the login it was sent | 407 Proxy Authentication Required |
Sorry, you have been blocked
- Who usually sends it
- A Cloudflare firewall rule set by the site
Verify you are human
- Who usually sends it
- A Cloudflare challenge page or Turnstile widget
Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network
- Who usually sends it
- Google Search
Request unsuccessful. Incapsula incident ID
- Who usually sends it
- Imperva, the site's bot and firewall service
Press & Hold
- Who usually sends it
- HUMAN Security bot defense
Try Again Later
- Who usually sends it
- An Instagram action limit
No internet connection
- Who usually sends it
- The TikTok app, while other apps still load
You've been blocked by network security
- Who usually sends it
407 Proxy Authentication Required
- Who usually sends it
- Your proxy, refusing the login it was sent
Proxy basics
Short answers to the questions that come before any setup: what the terms mean, how an IP gets shared, how many accounts a line can carry and what a site can learn about you. Each answer opens with the short version and then shows the evidence.
Mobile proxy operations guide
Session design, rotation timing, health checks and device replacement for a fleet of lines.
What is a sticky session
How long one exit IP is kept, how providers do it and how a dedicated line differs.
What is a backconnect proxy
One gateway address that forwards traffic to changing exit IPs, and when to use one.
Proxy formats
host:port:user:pass, URL styles and how to convert and escape them for each tool.
What is CGNAT
How carrier-grade NAT puts many subscribers behind one public IP, and why it matters.
What is a residential proxy
How home broadband IPs are obtained, billed and detected, and the alternatives.
cURL proxy commands
The -x flag, authentication, socks5h for remote DNS and how to read verbose output.
Accounts per mobile proxy
Why no universal number is safe and a way to set your own ratio per platform.
Can mobile proxies be detected
What a site can see: leaks, mismatches and fingerprints, and what looks like any phone.
Mobile proxy shows as datacenter
Why IP databases mislabel some carrier ranges and how to check and report it.
Can a mobile IP be traced
How carriers map a shared IP to a subscriber, who can ask, and what a website alone learns.
Mobile IP rotation and sessions
How a carrier hands out addresses and what rotation really changes.
SOCKS5 explained
The protocol, its login and where it beats HTTP.
Proxy IP allowlisting explained
Logging in by source IP instead of a password.
Errors and blocks
Most block pages say less than they seem to. The same CAPTCHA can come from the IP, the browser or the pace of requests, and the fix depends on which one tripped it. These pages start from the exact message, name the system that sends it and order the fixes from the cheapest test to the most work.
Mobile proxy not working
Refused connections, timeouts, a stuck IP or a 407, with the first fix to try for each.
407 Proxy Authentication Required
Why a proxy answers 407 and the fixes for credentials, encoding and CONNECT tunnels.
hCaptcha not working
Loops, load failures and repeat challenges, with the order to test browser, network and IP.
Incapsula incident ID
What the Imperva incident page means, what to send the site owner and what to fix.
TikTok no internet connection
When TikTok says you are offline while other apps work: network, VPN and app causes.
Instagram try again later
An action limit: what triggers it, how long it lasts and what to change.
Google unusual traffic
Why Google flags traffic from a network and the fixes for users and scrapers.
Press and hold CAPTCHA
Where the press and hold check comes from and why it repeats or fails.
Sorry, you have been blocked
Reading a Cloudflare block page and its Ray ID, and how access usually comes back.
reCAPTCHA v3 score
How the score per action is used, what lowers it and what raises it.
Why so many CAPTCHAs
Telling an IP cause from a browser or request-pattern cause, with fixes for each.
IP ban checks and practical diagnosis
Telling an IP block from an account limit, a proxy error or a rate limit.
Cloudflare blocks and challenge loops
Why a challenge repeats and what clears it.
Reddit account and shadowban checks
Network blocks against account actions on Reddit.
TikTok restrictions and diagnosis
Reading a TikTok restriction and its cause.
Discord bans and API restrictions
IP bans, account bans and rate limits on Discord.
Instagram open-proxy warning
What the warning means and how to clear it.
Proxy error codes
The status codes proxies return and what each one points to.
Fix a proxy location mismatch
When a site places your IP in the wrong country or city.
DNS leak diagnosis
Lookups that go around the proxy, and how to stop them.
How to find a clean proxy
Checking an IP's history before you trust it.
Checker sites explained
Checker sites turn dozens of signals into one verdict, and each one weighs them its own way. A red mark on a checker is a clue, not a ban: what matters is whether the sites you use read the same signal. These pages explain each checker's fields as it documents them and say plainly where it does not.
iphey results explained
What iphey checks, how it reaches each label and how to fix a red item.
Pixelscan proxy check
Reading the proxy, fingerprint and consistency results and which ones real sites use.
Whoer proxy check
What goes into the percentage score and which findings matter on real sites.
BrowserLeaks proxy tests
Which BrowserLeaks pages to open when testing a proxy and what a clean result looks like.
IPQS fraud score
What the IPQualityScore number and proxy flags measure and how sites act on them.
Scamalytics fraud score
How Scamalytics scores an IP and when the result affects a real site.
IP reputation, fraud scores and blocklists
What reputation services measure and how sites use them.
Anti-bot systems
Bot defenses score a visit on several layers at once: the TLS handshake, the browser, the network and the behavior. A carrier IP helps with exactly one of them. These pages explain each vendor's layers from its own documentation, and what a consistent, legitimate client looks like to it.
How Kasada detects bots
Browser checks, proof-of-work and network signals, and why scripted clients fail them.
How DataDome detects bots
Device, behavior and network signals DataDome reads, and what its block pages mean.
How Akamai Bot Manager works
Sensor data, TLS and HTTP fingerprints and IP reputation, layer by layer.
Cloudflare Turnstile explained
How Turnstile decides without a puzzle and why it loops for some sessions.
JA3 vs JA4 fingerprints
How each method hashes a TLS Client Hello and how to read the one your client sends.
TCP/IP fingerprinting and p0f
How packet headers reveal an operating system and what an OS fingerprint setting changes.
Proxy detected warnings
Which signal fired: the network, a leak, a header or a mismatch, and the fix for each.
AI agent blocked
Why agents trip bot defenses and how to give an agent a route sites accept.
How websites detect proxies
The checks sites run on an incoming connection.
Browser fingerprint detection guide
What a fingerprint is made of and how it is compared.
Collecting data
For data work, the first question is whether the site offers an official API and what its terms allow. These how-tos start there, then show working code, pacing and where a proxy fits in.
How to scrape Reddit
The official API, public JSON and browsers, with current terms, limits and Python code.
How to scrape Amazon
Official APIs and public pages, a tested parser and how to pace requests.
Web scraping with Python
From a first request to a polite crawler with retries, sessions and an authenticated proxy.
Best language for web scraping
Python, Node.js, Go, Java and Ruby compared on libraries, browsers and concurrency.
Web scraping proxy guide
How proxies fit into a scraping stack, from the first request to scale.
Is web scraping legal?
The cases and rules that shape scraping in 2026.
Check it yourself
These tools measure the signals the answers talk about, from this browser and this connection. They report observations; none of them can promise that a site will accept you. All of them are listed on the proxy and network tools page.
- IP type checker
- Browser fingerprint test
- IP and timezone check
- IP blacklist checker
- Proxy detection test
- What is my IP
- WebRTC leak test
- DNS leak test
- ASN lookup
- IP reputation check
- JA4 fingerprint checker
A term you do not know? The mobile proxy glossary defines it in a sentence or two.
Before you start
Why does a site block me when other people can get in?
Sites score each visit on the IP, the browser and the pattern of requests, and any one of them can push you over the line. Start with the exact message you see: the table at the top of this page says which system sends it and which page explains the fix.
Does a bad score on a checker site mean I will be blocked?
Not by itself. Each checker weighs its own mix of signals, and the sites you use may read different ones. Treat a red result as a list of things to look at, and test the real site before changing anything.
Will a mobile proxy fix every CAPTCHA?
No. A carrier IP removes the network reasons for a challenge, such as a hosting range or an address with a poor history. It does nothing for a browser that leaks automation flags, a timezone that disagrees with the IP or requests sent too fast.