also called residential proxy
An internet address that looks like a normal home connection rather than a data center or VPN.
An internet address that looks like an ordinary home connection rather than a data centre or a VPN. Some banks and services block VPN and data-centre addresses but still accept a residential-looking one. That is the contrast: a VPN often routes you through addresses these services flag and reject, while a residential IP reads as a normal household, which matters when a service locks you out abroad.
Someone abroad tries to log in to their home bank through a VPN and gets blocked, because the bank flags the VPN's data-centre address. Connecting through a residential IP instead reads as a normal home connection, and the bank lets them in to move their own money.
Banks and services that block VPN and data-center IPs may still accept a residential one, useful when locked out abroad.
VPN
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