How to Earn with Mobile Proxies

Mobile proxies are used for various purposes: bypassing blocks, hiding identity, or protecting internet connections. And some people use them to make money by setting up their own servers and offering access points to other users. In this article, we will explain how to earn with mobile proxies and what income you can expect.

What Are Mobile Proxies?

Proxies act as intermediaries between users and target websites. Mobile proxies are real IP addresses assigned to users by their mobile service providers. This allows all user requests to go through the mobile operator using a mobile IP address. Websites perceive these requests as coming from regular users.

Mobile proxies can be shared or private. The differences between them were explained in the article "Shared vs Private Mobile Proxies?"

How Much Can You Earn with Mobile Proxies?

The maximum income is unlimited and depends on the number of devices you provide for rent, the cost of the mobile service plan from your operator, the electricity prices in your region, and the type of device you use to sell proxies.

You can sell mobile proxies using either a smartphone or a USB modem.

In this article, we will focus on selling proxies through smartphones. We will omit the cost of electricity as prices vary significantly across different countries. Let's assume the monthly service cost from the operator is $5.

Suppose you already have a mobile phone, so there is no need to purchase one. One private mobile proxy costs $50 per month. Therefore, from a single phone, you can earn $45 per month.

If you distribute proxies simultaneously from 10 devices, you can earn up to $450 per month.

10 * $50 - 10 * $5 = $450

However, in this case, you will need to spend some time to recover the costs of the mobile phones. Let's say one phone costs $250, so for 10 phones, you would have to pay $2,500. These costs will be recouped in 5.5 months, after which you will start making a profit.

$250 * 10 / $450 = 5.5 months

Okay, How to Get Started Earning

To sell mobile proxies, you will need several phones and SIM cards with fast internet. Additionally, you need to obtain a license for providing services and purchase a billing system. Launching your own website, setting up advertising, and attracting clients can be challenging, but there's a simpler way to start.

Instead, you can work under another proxy provider's license and offer your equipment as if it were for rent. In this case, your final earnings will be slightly lower, around 15-25% of the profit will go to the provider. However, you will save yourself from the lengthy setup and launch process of a business. Furthermore, there are other advantages:

• No need to find clients - that's the provider's job. Therefore, you won't have to worry about creating a website, advertising, and so on.
• Easier legal registration since you won't need to obtain permits - you will be operating under the provider's license.
• Easier from a technical standpoint: your task is solely to configure the proxies and keep them active. The proxy provider handles all other processes.
• Protect yourself legally. If you set up your own proxy server and someone engages in illegal activities through it, law enforcement may come to you. Proxy providers have usage rules, and if violated, the client gets banned, preventing any legal issues for you.

For example, if someone sends spam using the proxy's address, they will get banned.

Now let's move on to the main principles you need to follow for stable earnings.

Choosing Suitable Devices

To sell mobile proxies, any Android smartphones with OS version 5.0 and above will suffice. You can find suitable smartphones on Amazon with prices up to $50. However, it's better to choose models priced at around $100 as they provide more stable performance and last longer. Therefore, you will need to spend approximately $1,000 to set up a mobile proxy farm.

You can keep the smartphones in your apartment, office, warehouse, or even in a vehicle. The key is to place the phones in areas with good network coverage and close to power outlets for continuous charging. The longer the smartphones operate, the more money they can earn.

Additionally, you can set up automatic IP address rotation on the smartphones, ensuring that clients always use different addresses. To achieve this, the phone should automatically enable and disable airplane mode. This is necessary to briefly interrupt the connection and allow the mobile operator to assign a new IP to the device.To do this, you will need to gain root access to your device and install the Macrodroid application. Within the app, you can configure a scenario for automatically enabling airplane mode.

Another option is to purchase USB modems and connect them to routers like TP-Link, Mikrotik, Huawei, and others. The average starting price for routers is around $50. While this may not always be cheaper than using smartphones, routers take up less space, have longer and more stable operation, and require fewer maintenance efforts. USB modems are also needed for the routers, which can be purchased for approximately $15 each on eBay. So, in total, you will need to spend $650 for 10 routers and USB modems.

After purchasing the routers, it's advisable to place them about 7-10 cm apart to minimize heat and prevent signal interference.

Example of a router to which a USB modem is connected. Source

Users on YouTube and various forums have reported that proxies through routers can be unreliable. DNS errors often occur, causing the modem interface to become inaccessible and the proxies to stop working.

Connecting multiple USB modems to one hub, they are flashed to enable IP address (gateway) replacement in the DHCP server settings. This is done to set a range of addresses and the duration for which an IP is assigned. As a result, the router will independently determine which IP belongs to whom in the home network.Electromagnetic radiation from a large number of modems can be harmful to health. Therefore, if you plan to keep a large number of modems in one place, they should be isolated from living areas or shielded to prevent radiation from reaching residential rooms.

For information on changing DHCP servers, refer to the documentation provided by the manufacturer of your router. For example, here's how Mikrotik's knowledge base describes DHCP configuration. This configuration process should be applicable to other routers as well.

To configure a USB hub, you will need a Linux operating system. Therefore, only advanced users of the OS will be able to handle the setup. Another downside of this proxy setup is that each modem is tied to a specific USB port. If you insert the modem into a different port, the proxy settings will be lost.

Schematically, the two connection options would look like this:

Connection: USB modem + router → router/switch + computer

Connection: USB modem + USB hub + computer

Monitoring the Devices

Firstly, the devices should always remain active. Therefore, you will need to keep them powered from the electrical grid.

Secondly, you need to select an operator with high reliability and stable internet connection.

To choose an operator with fast and reliable internet, follow these guidelines:

• Study the coverage maps on the mobile operators' websites. The better the coverage in your region, the faster the internet will be.
• Test different operators. After using the services of each operator, you will understand which one offers higher internet speeds.
• Check the incoming and outgoing speeds as well as the ping for each operator. You can use an application or website like Speedtest for this purpose. Higher speeds and lower ping indicate better proxy performance.

It's important to test the operators at different times of the day to understand how signal quality changes.

The OpenSignal application will be useful for conducting tests. On its last tab, you can view statistics on signal measurements from various operators at your location. You can also view statistics for other locations by specifying them in the search bar.

• Clarify the data volume and type of internet connection. Choose a tariff plan with the maximum amount of internet traffic. Additionally, make sure that the type of connection remains the same after a certain data limit. For example, sometimes operators sell plans advertised as "unlimited internet," but after consuming a certain amount of data, the speed is significantly reduced or limited.

Finding Clients

Clients can be found through online advertising or by word-of-mouth referrals from acquaintances. Over time, word-of-mouth will begin to spread, with people naturally telling others about your servers.

Another method is to find wholesale clients who require multiple phones at once. For example, these could be traffic arbitrage specialists, SEO agencies, web scrapers, or cryptocurrency investors. These fields often require new IP addresses since they frequently encounter blocking. Alternatively, new and clean IP addresses are always needed for registration on various services.

You can also offer your proxies in relevant threads on forums such as Cracked, Blackhatworld, Altenens.

Selling Proxies

You can sell proxies on your own. To do this, you can create a Telegram channel, website, or another online platform and promote it through advertising. However, there's an easier option: hosting your server on a proxy provider's website, such as OnlineProxy.

The platform will handle all marketing, customer acquisition, and customer support. Your responsibility will be to maintain the functionality of the devices and pay for the operator services.

Is Selling Mobile Proxies Legal?

Yes, if you have your own license or operate under a third-party provider's license, you are not violating any laws. What people do online with your IP addresses has no impact on you.

The only issue is that due to unscrupulous clients, your IP addresses may end up being blocked on various websites. To circumvent this, you will need to change IPs.

How to Earn from Mobile Proxies without Smartphones

If you don't have a smartphone but still want to earn from proxies, you can promote referral links provided by proxy providers. Let's look at how much you can earn through the referral program using OnlineProxy as an example.

To obtain a referral link, you need to register and access your profile to retrieve the link. In the future, for every purchase made by a user through your referral link, you will receive 5% of their expenditure.

For instance, if you attract 100 people to the system, and each of them purchases a $20 proxy per month, your earnings will amount to $100:

20$ * 100 * 5% = 100$

If these people continue to use proxies, you can earn $100 per month without spending time searching for referrals.

How to Promote the Referral Link

You can share the link with your relatives and acquaintances who may require proxies. This is the easiest option.

A more challenging approach is to create a video review or write an article about proxies, their capabilities, and advantages. Since there is relatively little competition in the proxy field, you can quickly rank highly in search results and achieve broader reach. The key is to include the referral link in the video description or text.

Another option is to grow your presence on social media and share the link there. For example, you can create a small blog about cybersecurity, circumventing blocks, and discuss these topics from the perspective of proxies.

Additionally, you can run advertisements to promote the link in various ways.