Complete Guide to SOCKS5 Proxies

SpencerAqa
4 min readMar 24, 2021

Running an e-commerce business can be quite challenging. But running a slow e-commerce business can be even more frustrating.

E-commerce brands, essentially, rely on the web for a lot of things. For instance, they need the internet to monitor and keep track of their intellectual assets, they need the internet to monitor the competition, the customers, and prices to be able to make some informed business decisions, and they also need the internet to be able to monitor reviews and create a better brand.

And because of all these needs, they neither can afford to be denied access to important websites and platforms nor can they afford to access these sources with a slow connection.

Simply put, it needs to happen, and it needs to happen fast. Using a SOCKS5 proxy takes care of all these. It grants businesses safer access to just about any source of information quickly.

What are SOCKS5 proxies?

SOCKS5 proxies are the up-to-date versions of the SOCKS proxy. SOCKS stands for Socket Secure and is an advanced and more secured internet protocol used for transferring packets of data from computers to servers and the back again.

And SOCKS5 proxy, generally, uses either User Datagram Protocol (UDP) or Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to ensure the connection between the computer and a target server is fast and better secured.

Additionally, SOCKS5 proxies also use authentication methods to enhance these connections while protecting computers from any harmful content via a firewall.

How SOCKS5 proxies differ from other types of proxies?

SOCKS were built to mitigate the issues that existed with the older internet protocols such as HTTP. This means that SOCKS5, the newest version of SOCKS, differs from other proxies in terms of protocol types, functionality, and security.

We will compare the SOCKS5 proxy with HTTP as they are the most common types of proxies.

Main use cases of SOCKS5 proxies

Several business instances require the use of a SOCKS5 proxy, such as:

  • When you need to do a faster torrent or P2P connection
  • When you require a larger bandwidth size
  • When safeguarding your IP address is a priority
  • When trying to access some servers from a forbidden location
  • When you need to securely access platforms that are restricted

Importance of SOCKS5 proxies in business operations

Every company should consider implementing a SOCKS5 proxy into their business operations as it can offer the following benefits:

  1. Preventing internet blocks

Businesses require information to grow and thrive, and, in many instances, the sources of this information do not like to give them out readily. They, therefore, try to block businesses from accessing their servers.

Companies use SOCKS5 proxy servers because they can remove any of such blockings granting you uninterrupted access to whatever information you require. For example, Oxylabs’s SOCKS5 proxy is ideal for traffic-intense web scraping and offers 2M+ proxies in 82 countries.

2. More reliable and efficient connection

A less reliable connection is a risky connection and can pose serious threats to any business’s integrity. When a connection is compromised, it can bring new problems to the company. A SOCKS5 proxy uses UDP for its connection which increases its reliability and efficiency.

3. Preventing Errors

HTTP proxies function by reading, understanding, and updating users’ requests. The problem with this is that the protocol’s adjustments could create errors when the right reaches the target server.

But with SOCKS5 proxies, such adjustment and updating of the message do not occur, and because the requests do not get rewritten, the chances of any error happening are minimal.

4. Faster Connections with No Limits

Another advantage of using the UDP protocol is that it increases the speed of accessing the web. Both sending and downloading of information occur at a faster rate with the UDP protocol.

Also, SOCKS5 proxies are not limited and are flexible enough to work with any protocol, program, or traffic.

Conclusion

A SOCKS5 proxy is known for certain special benefits such as better security, enhanced performance and connection, and zero limitations.

It does not only grant your business safer and better connection to platforms that initially should be restricted, but it does so with speed. This is why every business needs this type of proxy.

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SpencerAqa

Business analyst and Star Wars enthusiast. Businessman by day Geek by night.