Verifying mobile ad placements
Campaigns bought against mobile inventory are served to mobile networks. Checking creative, landing pages and redirect chains from a desktop connection measures something the campaign never showed to anyone.
MOBILE PROXIES
Mobile Proxies
Addresses issued by a phone network to 4G and 5G subscribers. What sets them apart is not the hardware but sharing: on IPv4 a carrier commonly routes many subscribers through one public address at a time, so a site that refuses the address refuses all of them. Configurable in our catalogue, not orderable yet.
Mobile appears in the configurator on our home page because the catalogue carries it. Being wired to the catalogue and being for sale are separate things, and today only the static ISP product is for sale.
In short: A mobile proxy sends your traffic out through a cellular carrier’s public address, which the carrier shares among many subscribers at once. That sharing, not speed, is what sets it apart, and the jobs that need it are the ones that must be seen from a phone network: mobile ad checks, carrier-only content, cellular app behaviour.
A mobile proxy routes your request through a 4G or 5G carrier, so the address you arrive from belongs to a mobile network rather than to a fixed line or a data centre.
Where the sharing comes from
Mobile operators often have more devices to connect than public IPv4 addresses to give them. An IETF document on IPv6 in 3GPP mobile networks notes that operators “tend to assign private IPv4 addresses” to devices and reach the internet through NAT44 translation (RFC 6459, section 8.1). Carrier-grade NAT even has its own reserved range, 100.64.0.0/10, set aside for numbering the links between customer equipment and the NAT (RFC 6598), and the published requirements for these NATs start from a service “where a public IPv4 address would be shared by many subscribers” (RFC 6888). How many share one address at a given moment is the carrier’s own engineering choice, and it is not published address by address.
The consequence cuts both ways. The IETF’s review of address sharing describes a server that puts an over-active address in a “penalty box” and, with a shared address, ends up locking out “other users who have not made any previous attempts” (RFC 6269, section 13.1). That is why refusing a carrier address is costly for a site, and also why you can be refused for something another subscriber did.
WHY IT BEHAVES DIFFERENTLY
The address is shared, and that is the point
Everything distinctive about a mobile proxy comes from one piece of carrier plumbing rather than from anything a provider does.
Step 01
Subscribers outnumber public IPv4 addresses. So the operator gives each phone a private address and translates many of them to one public address at the edge of its network. This is carrier-grade NAT, a standard piece of network engineering rather than a proxy trick.
Step 02
A block therefore reaches strangers. Refusing that address does not refuse one visitor; it refuses everyone the carrier has behind it at that moment, including customers doing nothing unusual. Sites that weigh that cost may handle carrier ranges more carefully than a single household’s address — and one subscriber who trips a limit can still get others refused.
Step 03
The address moves on its own. The public address can change when a data session reconnects or the carrier’s translation is reassigned, and mobile proxy services commonly offer a way to force a new one. You are renting a position in a changing pool, not an address, and any workflow that assumes permanence will be surprised.
WHO ELSE IS BEHIND THE ADDRESS
How many strangers share your IP, and what that changes
| Mobile carrier | Consumer broadband | Hosting network | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who shares the address | On IPv4, often many unrelated subscribers at once | One household | You, or a few tenants |
| Who a block reaches | Every subscriber behind it at that moment | One customer | The tenant renting it |
| How the address changes | On its own, as data sessions reconnect | Rarely, at the provider's discretion | Not unless you ask |
| Can you keep one address | No — the carrier decides | Effectively yes | Yes, for the term |
| How it is usually sold | By plan: a period, some with a data allowance | Per address, or per gigabyte from a pool | Per address, per period |
| What it is bought for | Being on a phone network | Looking ordinary and staying put | Speed and volume |
WHAT IT IS FOR
Work that has to arrive from a phone network
Carrier and region-gated content
Some offers, tariffs and portals only appear to subscribers of a particular network, and some appear only in one country's mobile market. There is no way to see those from outside the carrier.
Testing an app the way it ships
Applications behave differently on cellular: different timeouts, different asset sizes, different fallbacks. Exercising that path needs a real carrier route rather than an office connection pretending to be one.
Platforms that weight mobile signals
Some consumer platforms may weigh a mobile connection differently from a fixed one. Where you are operating accounts you own or are authorised to operate, and the platform is built around phones, that difference can be the reason to be here rather than on broadband.
Reproducing a customer's conditions
A support report that only happens on one network is not reproducible from anywhere else. Getting onto that network is the shortest route between the complaint and the cause.
Mobile-first storefronts
Pricing, stock and promotion logic can differ between the mobile and desktop views of the same shop. Reading one and reporting the other is a measurement error, not a shortcut.
THE TRADE
What a carrier address gives you and what it takes
Gives: a real phone-network vantage point
Traffic arrives from the carrier's own range, which is the direct way to see what mobile subscribers are served. And because the address is shared, a site that cares about its own mobile customers has a reason to think before refusing it.
Takes: any claim to a fixed address
The carrier reassigns, the data session reconnects, the translation moves. Work that needs to be recognised as the same visitor next week is fighting the network's own design, and the network wins.
Takes: a per-address price
Mobile is sold by plan — a period of access, some with a data allowance — rather than by address, and the supply behind it is constrained. For jobs that do not specifically need a phone network, paying for one buys nothing.
WHO THIS IS FOR
For people who check or test what mobile networks are served
Ad verification
Whether checking what mobile networks are served in an ad placement actually requires a carrier address.
App QA
Whether testing how an app behaves on a cellular route actually requires a carrier address.
Regional mobile offers
Whether seeing the offers a mobile network serves in one region actually requires a carrier address.
ASK BEFORE YOU PAY
Do you actually need a carrier address?
Is what you are checking only served to mobile networks — a mobile ad placement, a carrier portal, a mobile tariff page?- Does the behaviour you are testing depend on a cellular route, such as an app’s timeouts, asset sizes or fallbacks?
- Can the job live with an address the carrier may change at any time?
- Is latency that varies with the radio path acceptable?
- If accounts are involved, are they yours or ones you are authorised to operate? If the answer to both of the first two is no, a fixed-line address will usually do the job. For work that has to come back as the same visitor, a static address fits; for signed-out breadth, see rotating residential proxies.
CATEGORY DETAILS
How the category behaves
-
Address origin
- Issued by a mobile network operator to a subscriber session
Network shown to the target- The carrier's, shared with many other subscribers
Rotation- Carrier-driven, and usually forceable on request
-
Session length
- Not guaranteed by anyone, because the carrier decides
Targeting axis- Country and operator, where the catalogue names one
-
Latency
- Set by the radio path, so usually higher and more variable than a wired line
Billing unit- Per plan: a period of access, some with a data allowance
Availability at ProxyJam- Plans in 15 countries in the catalogue and the configurator; no checkout yet
FAQ
Questions about mobile proxies
This is a category explainer, not an offer. Where an answer states a term of sale it describes the static ISP product, which is what ProxyJam sells today, and links to the document that binds us.
What is a mobile proxy?
It is a route out through an address that a mobile network operator has issued to a phone session on its 4G or 5G network. A site looking up the address sees the carrier, and sees an address that many ordinary subscribers may be sharing at the same moment. That second fact, not the first, is what sets the category apart.
Why do sites treat mobile addresses differently?
Because a carrier puts many customers behind one public address at a time, so refusing the address refuses all of them, including paying customers doing nothing unusual. That makes a blanket block costly for the site, which is a commercial consideration rather than a technical disguise. It cuts the other way too: if someone else behind the same address trips a site's limits, you can be refused along with them.
Can I keep the same mobile IP?
Not reliably. The public address belongs to the carrier, and it can change when a data session reconnects or the carrier reassigns its translation. Mobile proxy services commonly offer a control to force a change, which is the opposite problem, but none of them can guarantee an address stays. If your work depends on being recognised as the same visitor tomorrow, this is the wrong category.
How is it different from rotating residential?
Both give you an address you do not keep. The difference is whose network answers and how many people are behind the address. Rotating residential borrows one consumer device's connection at a time, so the address is ordinary and not shared through carrier NAT. Mobile puts you behind an address the carrier itself is sharing among strangers, which is why sites may handle it more carefully and why it is sold by plan rather than by the gigabyte of a pool. Rotating Residential
Why is mobile sold by plan?
Because the supply is constrained at the source. Every address traces back to a subscriber line on a carrier plan, the carrier meters mobile data, and there is no way to add capacity the way a hosting company adds addresses to a rack. Our own catalogue reflects that: mobile is listed per carrier as plans, each a period of access and some with a data allowance, rather than as a price per address.
Do I need mobile proxies for social platforms?
Sometimes, not as a rule. Where a platform weighs a mobile connection differently, it can matter. Where the real issue is behaviour, volume or an account's own history, a mobile address does not change it, and you pay for a plan you did not need. Work out which problem you have before paying for the answer to the other one. And for accounts on third-party platforms that you do not personally own, our Acceptable Use Policy asks for evidence of your authority over them first. Acceptable Use Policy
Can I buy mobile proxies from ProxyJam today?
Not yet. Mobile appears in the configurator on our home page because the catalogue carries mobile plans, but the button says coming soon and there is no checkout behind it. What is on sale is a static address registered to a named internet provider, priced per IP per period, held for the whole period, replaced free up to 20 % of the order per calendar month, with a 72-hour refund on the first order covering up to 10 IPs that testing does not void. Refund Policy
Mobile at ProxyJam today
The catalogue snapshot this site is built from lists mobile plans per carrier in 15 countries, each a period of access and some with a data allowance, and the configurator on our home page can show them. None of them can be ordered yet: the button reads coming soon and there is no checkout behind it, because being wired to the catalogue and being for sale are separate things. What is on sale is a static address registered to a named internet provider, priced per address per month, with prices on our pricing page. For the fuller side-by-side with a household pool, read mobile vs residential proxies.Sources
- RFC 6459 — IPv6 in 3GPP Evolved Packet System — section 8.1: mobile operators tend to assign private IPv4 addresses to devices and reach the internet through NAT44 translation
- RFC 6598 — IANA-Reserved IPv4 Prefix for Shared Address Space — the 100.64.0.0/10 range set aside for numbering the links between customer equipment and a carrier-grade NAT
- RFC 6888 — Common Requirements for Carrier-Grade NATs — the requirements start from a service where a public IPv4 address would be shared by many subscribers
- RFC 6269 — Issues with IP Address Sharing — section 13.1: a penalty box on a shared address locks out other users who have not made any previous attempts