What is a Proxy IP??

Closed Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
  1. #1

    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    450

    What is a Proxy IP??

    I use NOW broadband and when I tried to access something from a site it said I couldnt because I was on a proxy IP and I was already accessing something from the same site, though I wasnt. Does anyone know what this proxy IP means??

    I am using this at home and dont think I set up a proxy - is that something that NOW automatically sets up?

    Thanks so much.


  2. #2

    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    4,279

    Check your internet connection settings. In IE it's Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN settings. In Firefox it's Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Network - Settings.


  3. #3

    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Kwun Tong
    Posts
    1,242
    Quote Originally Posted by jaetee:
    I use NOW broadband and when I tried to access something from a site it said I couldnt because I was on a proxy IP and I was already accessing something from the same site, though I wasnt. Does anyone know what this proxy IP means??

    I am using this at home and dont think I set up a proxy - is that something that NOW automatically sets up?

    Thanks so much.
    It means that your ISP is redirecting your HTTP traffic to a Proxy server which caches pages and does the actual communication with the web site.

    Proxy's speed up access, cache pages, lower ISPs bandwidth needs.

    Proxy servers sometimes break web applications and the site that you are using refuses to use let you access it whilst you are using a proxy.

    To overcome this problem, change to an ISP that does not run your traffic through a proxy server or upgrade to a corporate service where your traffic is not proxied. this has nothing to do with your IE settings.

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    23,205

    hk.com,

    Your well established hatred of NOW/Netvigator/PCCW is over-riding what little technical knowledge you may have. I have used PCCW for years and have never encountered such an error when using all sorts of applications. I feel it is far more likely that the OP has a proxy inadvertently set in their browser (possibly because it's a laptop that they also use at work) than that any redirection by PCCW is causing a problem.

    Last edited by PDLM; 24-01-2007 at 12:15 AM.

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Lantau
    Posts
    1,519

    PDLM

    Excuse my limited technical knowledge but isn't it true to say that as a residential customer of PCCW your traffic would be routed through a PCCW proxy? The IP address assigned to your PC from PCCW isn't, as far as I am aware, internet facing, rather only an IP within the PCCW network - hence the use of a proxy?

    That said, I totally agree with your point that this is very unlikely to cause the issue jaetee is experiencing.


  6. #6

    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Kwun Tong
    Posts
    1,242
    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    hk.com,

    Your well established hatred of NOW/Netvigator/PCCW is over-riding what little technical knowledge you may have. I have used PCCW for years and have never encountered such an error when using all sorts of applications. I feel it is far more likely that the OP has a proxy inadvertently set in their browser (possibly because it's a laptop that they also use at work) than that any redirection by PCCW is causing a problem.
    Lets see what jaetee has in his settings.

    Bias? I have suggested him to upgrade to a service where his data is not going through a proxy cache. As far as I see that is business development for Netvigator.

    The issue of ISPs shoving users through a transparent proxy cache is a long standing problem. You don't have to put any settings in your browser for you to be going through a proxy.

    Some ISPs do use proxies some don't. They are more common on low cost services.

    You never had such problems? Nor have I even when the ISP used a proxy. That is because you have not gone on a site where the web server is looking out for proxy servers IP and denying them. A reason for a webmaster to do this would be to Eg you to control how many people per IP sign up to a service. A proxy server will normally show that a thousands of users coming from one IP address.

    Sometimes the proxy server (i-cable use to do this), uses 2 IP addresses (from complete different IP blocks) to access a web site, and http requests for a internet user would alternate between the 2 IPs. If you are trying to detect session hijacking based on IP changes a proxy server will screw this up. Either you will get a false positive and kick out a valid user or you have to stop the mechanism.

    When you hit a problem with a cache or it stores something corrupt in the cache, you are stuck. If your ISP is doing there is no easy work around, whether you are on Netvigator or any other ISP. The ISP has some economics, and policies and must use proxy caches to be able to cram everyone into the available bandwidth. I've heard from many people complain about their use, saying it is unfair and misleading.

    Personally I like the benefits the bring, the have better IP stacks than your desktop and make browsing faster even if it is non-cached contents. They are not trouble free but keep improving.
    Last edited by hk.com; 24-01-2007 at 12:52 AM.

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    23,205

    Well I have never seen a case on Netvigator (or at least not since the days of the very old ATM-based TV service) where the IP address reported by my router was any different from the IP address reported by any of the many websites or other services out there which purport to tell me my IP address. And by all the tests I can run that IP address is solely in use for my connection.

    Netvigator may well (indeed I would hope it does) use a caching proxy to minimise use of bandwidth and improve download times, but that is not, per se, going to have the effect that the OP described. This will only happen if s/he has a proxy configured in their browser or if Netvigator uses an intercepting proxy which would give the address translation effect described. In my experience Netvigator does not run such a proxy.

    The other possibility is that the OP's machine has been compromised and is, unbeknownst to him/her, running some proxy code itself which is being used for some (probably nefarious) purpose by other people.


  8. #8

    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Kwun Tong
    Posts
    1,242

    PLDM, there are several parts to Netvigators network and not all users are configured the same way are on the same network hardware. What you experience on your current circuit does not necessarily mean that it is what other Netvigator users will experience. When the taiwan cable broke we did see that some parts/users on netvigator were fine others not.

    Maybe you are right and the site is seeing his actual IP address.

    The proxy may be running in stealth mode and the web site sees his PC's IP but that does not mean that the website/server are not able to identify a proxy server. I while back we used a library that could tell you the OS/hardware of the connection arriving at the server.

    From what I've seen HTTP and other TCP is routed gets routed differently on Netvigator. Ever seen the situation where you can't connect to say webmail on a server but POP/SMTP on the same server work, or vice-versa?


  9. #9

    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    HK
    Posts
    583

    hi jaetee, what were you trying to access in the first place? is it something like a download site like rapidshare and the like?


  10. #10

    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    4,279

    We can stop the bickering if jaetee would let us know (a) whether his settings are OK and (b) what sites he is accessing.


Closed Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast