Country routing

Geo-targeting in proxy routing

Country match is only the first check. The target response is a separate question.

Volume and Premium Usage Logs Updated 2026-06-12

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Country token and response are two separate questions

Geo failures get conflated. A country token can be correct while the target, the account state, or a provider-side rule is what actually blocks the request. The right starting point is the exit country and the raw response code — not whether the page rendered acceptably in a browser.

This is the scratch log format useful when a country job produces suspicious results. Username, protocol, country requested, country seen, status, body bytes, provider-metered bytes, and a note.

ts,user,proto,country_req,country_seen,status,body_bytes,provider_metered_bytes,note
2025-10-17T08:11:02Z,rt97db6958d9-plan-volume-country-us,socks5h,US,US,403,11877,40112,consent page
2025-10-17T08:11:36Z,rt97db6958d9-plan-volume-country-us,http,US,US,200,9321,18904,block page dressed as 200
2025-10-17T08:12:18Z,rt97db6958d9-plan-volume-country-de,https,DE,DE,302,0,15733,cookie wall redirect
2025-10-17T08:13:44Z,rt97db6958d9-plan-volume-country-us,socks5h,US,US,200,48210,61822,usable page
note: country_seen was correct every time; target response was not

One row proves nothing. A pattern does. If the country is right and the body is a consent page, the next suspect is not the country code. It is headers, session state, account state, a target policy change, or a provider-side restriction.

Country goes in the username, not the URL

The gateway stays proxynade.net:2555 for all traffic types. Country selection goes into the expanded username: base user, a required plan token (volume, premium, or datacenter), and the optional country-<cc> segment. To request a US residential exit on a volume plan: rt97db6958d9-plan-volume-country-us.

http://rt97db6958d9-plan-volume-country-us:password@proxynade.net:2555
https://rt97db6958d9-plan-volume-country-us:password@proxynade.net:2555
socks5://rt97db6958d9-plan-volume-country-us:password@proxynade.net:2555
socks5h://rt97db6958d9-plan-volume-country-us:password@proxynade.net:2555

HTTP and HTTPS cover simple HTTP clients. SOCKS5 (RFC 1928) is common in browser automation and desktop apps. socks5h routes the hostname lookup through the proxy side rather than resolving it locally — relevant when local DNS and remote DNS produce different results for the same host.

The country token pins the exit geography. It does not change what the target returns, and it does not affect billing rate — Volume Residential bills at $0.89/GB, Premium Residential at $5.00/GB, regardless of which country the exit is in.

Provider bytes exceed app bytes by design

App-level counters track saved pages, parsed rows, or final browser state. The gateway meters every byte transferred: redirect chains, failed TLS attempts, block pages dressed as 200s, and retries all count. That gap is why a geo job can look efficient in your app logs while the bandwidth bill tells a different story.

The dashboard network log shows host, outcome, latency, and byte totals per request. Usage logs export as CSV. When a country job starts wasting spend, the provider-metered byte column is the first place to look — not the app-side row count.

Only force a country when the response changes by market

Country targeting is worth the narrowed pool when the page actually varies by exit geography: public price checks, localization QA, ad review, regional availability checks, market-specific search results. If the target serves the same response regardless of exit country, forcing a country token just reduces the pool and adds a variable to debug later.

Volume Residential and Premium Residential both support the country-<cc> format. Datacenter is a different route type; it skips the lifetime token that residential uses for rotation windows. Leave the country off when it does not affect the result.

Geo-targeting FAQ

How do you set a country in a Proxynade username? Add country-<cc> to the expanded username, for example rt97db6958d9-plan-volume-country-us. The gateway routes the exit to that country; the rest of the username stays the same.

Does a correct country token guarantee a usable response? No. The token controls exit IP geography. The target response is a separate question: a 403, a consent page, or a block dressed as a 200 can all come back from a correctly routed exit.

When should you leave the country token off? When the target serves the same response regardless of geography. Forcing a country narrows the exit pool without changing the result, and adds one more variable to debug if something breaks.

Why does the provider-metered byte count exceed what the app counted? The app typically counts saved pages or parsed rows. The gateway meters every byte transferred: redirects, block pages, retries, and background calls all add to the provider total.

Does Datacenter routing use the same country token format? Datacenter is a different route type and skips the lifetime token. The country token syntax is the same, but not all country options available on residential apply to datacenter exits.

Checklist before running a country job

  • Verify exit country matches country-<cc> token before collecting production data.
  • Check status code and body size, not just whether the page rendered.
  • Compare provider-metered bytes to app-counted rows to catch hidden retries.
  • Remove the country token if the target response is geography-independent.
  • Use socks5h when local DNS and remote DNS could diverge.