Updated Guide: How to Make Mobile Proxies
Written By: BOSS Editorial
Reading Time: 9 minutes
Security is essential for all online activities. There are several ways to safeguard your internet usage, and using a proxy server is one of them. Essentially, a proxy server acts as a go-between for your device and the internet, using a different IP address and location to mask your own. This means that any website you visit won’t be able to see your real IP address.
Alongside safety, proxies are useful for tasks like web scraping, SEO monitoring, and managing social media accounts.
Despite being legal, many of these activities can result in websites blocking your IP or rate-limiting you for a variety of reasons. Competitors don’t want to make it easy for you to collect data, bots can overburden servers, and more.
Because 4G/LTE/5G mobile IPs are managed through Carrier-Grade NAT (CGNAT), it’s tough for websites to block individual users since they only see a shared public IP address. This adds an extra layer of protection when you use 4G Dedicated Mobile Proxies for tasks like web scraping.
While you can always buy mobile proxies from proxy sellers, what you might not know is that you can easily create 4G/LTE/5G mobile proxies on your own without much of an investment.
If you’re interested in creating mobile proxies, the process is relatively straightforward. You can generally get one running in under an hour by following a simple guide.
Preparing the Basics
In this updated guide, we’ll be discussing how to create your own mobile proxy server, you can use anything from an old computer you have at home to a built-to-requirement rack server and everything in between.
For the purposes of this guide, we’ll be using a Raspberry Pi, a relatively cheap single-board computer that can be purchased for less than $50.
Hardware Requirements
- Raspberry Pi (any model that meets your performance needs, but a Raspberry Pi 3 or later is recommended for better performance)
- MicroSD Card (at least 16GB, class 10 for better performance)
- 4G LTE or 5G USB Modem (compatible with the network bands of your service provider) – you can also use any phone you have.
- SIM Card (with a data plan, ideally with no bandwidth throttling)
- Power Adapter for the Raspberry Pi
- Ethernet Cable (if you prefer a wired network connection for setup or operation)
- USB Power Bank or reliable power source (optional, for portable setups)
- USB Hub (if using multiple USB devices and the Raspberry Pi lacks sufficient ports)
Software Selection
Proxy Server Software
This is the software that actually runs the proxy services. This software manages network requests, handles data caching, provides security measures, and offers features like IP rotation or user authentication.
There is a lot of software out there, and each has its own specialty or focus, some of which we’ve compiled for you here:
Squid
Caching Capabilities: Excellent for caching frequently requested web pages to reduce bandwidth and improve response times.
Use Case: Ideal for organizations that need robust caching to speed up access to web content and reduce load on network resources.
3proxy
Efficiency and Lightweight: Known for its minimal resource consumption and support for a wide array of protocols.
Use Case: Excellent for environments with limited system capabilities or for users needing a compact, versatile proxy server.
TinyProxy
Lightweight: A minimalistic proxy solution, requiring fewer resources, making it efficient for smaller network environments.
Use Case: Best for organizations with limited hardware resources or those requiring a straightforward proxy setup.
Nginx
High Performance and Concurrency: Excels in managing high numbers of simultaneous connections with its event-driven architecture.
Use Case: Best suited for high-traffic websites and as a reverse proxy offering improved performance and efficiency for static and dynamic content delivery.
Privoxy
Privacy and Filtering: Provides advanced filtering options for enhancing user privacy and modifying web page data and headers.
Use Case: Ideal for individual users or small organizations focusing on privacy enhancements and content filtering.
IP Quality Filtering: Designed to deliver clean, low-fraud score IPs for stable connections and reduced interruptions.
Use Case: Ideal for automation, scraping, and multi-account workflows that require consistent sessions and reliable proxy performance.
Operating System for Raspberry Pi
Your Raspberry Pi will need an operating system to run. The most common choice is Raspberry Pi OS, which is optimized for Raspberry Pi hardware.
There are more pieces of software that may be needed, including network management tools, security software, monitoring and logging tools, automation and scripting tools, an admin interface, backup tools and, optionally, compression and optimization tools and a web-based admin interface, but we won’t be discussing all of those in this article.
Step-by-Step Setup Guide for Making Mobile Proxy
For the purposes of this guide, we can use a Raspberry Pi 3B, 4B, or 5 and load it with the desktop version of the Raspberry Pi OS. We’ll also be using Squid to set up our proxy. Alternatively, for those of you who might not be confident in setting up the proxy server software, don’t have the time to build and maintain the software, or want something scalable, Proxidize has a full enterprise-grade platform that sets the proxy up for you.
Set Up Hardware
- Prepare the Raspberry Pi
- Insert the MicroSD Card: First, you will need to insert a MicroSD card that has been loaded with your selected operating system — in this case, Raspberry Pi OS — into the Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi Imager is an easy way to write an OS image to the MicroSD card.
- Set Up the 4G LTE USB Modem or Phone
- Insert the SIM Card into the USB Modem: Before connecting the modem to the Raspberry Pi, insert a SIM card with an active data plan into the 4G LTE USB modem.
- Connect the USB Modem to the Raspberry Pi: Plug the USB modem into one of the USB ports on the Raspberry Pi. If there are not enough USB ports available or if the modem requires more power, use a powered USB hub to connect the modem.
- If you’re using a phone, you need to enable USB tethering from settings after connecting the phone to the Raspberry Pi using a USB cable.
- Connect to Power and Network
- Connect the Ethernet Cable: If you prefer a wired connection for initial setup or for internet access, connect an Ethernet cable from your router to the Raspberry Pi. We won’t be using WiFi for this guide as without an antenna, the WiFi capabilities of the Raspberry Pi will be relatively limited.
- Power Up the Raspberry Pi: Connect the Raspberry Pi power adapter to the Raspberry Pi and plug it into a power source.
Installing & Configuring the Software
Raspberry Pi OS
On the first boot, configure the Raspberry Pi OS by setting up user accounts, network preferences, and other initial settings via the welcome wizard or the Raspberry Pi configuration menu.
Next, you’ll have to install proxy server software, in this case, Squid. Configure the software to route internet traffic through the 4G LTE USB modem.
Squid
First, we’ll update the package list:
sudo apt update
Then install Squid:
sudo apt install squid
Now we’ll need to identify our network interfaces. You can find the names of your Ethernet and USB dongle interfaces using:
ip a
Typically, the Ethernet interface is eth0 and the USB dongle might appear as usb0 or wwan0.
We’ll need to assign IP addresses to the interfaces. You can set static IPs by editing the dhcpcd.conf file:
sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf
Add configurations for both interfaces. Example for eth0:
interface eth0
static ip_address=192.168.1.100/24
static routers=192.168.1.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.1.1
Ensure usb0 is configured to use DHCP or set a static IP if needed.
It’s time to enable IP forwarding to allow the Pi to route traffic:
echo “net.ipv4.ip_forward=1” | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p
Set up IP masquerading, which will redirect incoming traffic from the ethernet cable (eth0) out through the USB modem (usb0):
sudo iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o usb0 -j MASQUERADE
sudo netfilter-persistent save
Configuring Squid as a Forward Proxy
Now it’s time to configure Squid to be a forward proxy.
Start by backing up the original Squid configuration file:
sudo cp /etc/squid/squid.conf /etc/squid/squid.conf.backup
Let’s now edit the Squid configuration file:
sudo nano /etc/squid/squid.conf
Here you’ll configure the necessary directives. A basic configuration includes setting the http_port to listen on port 3128, specifying acl (or access control list) rules for who can use the proxy, and defining http_access rules to allow/deny access.
Let’s tackle that. In this case, let’s allow anyone using our network to use our new proxy:
In the squid.conf file, find or add the following lines to set basic access controls:
http_port 3128
acl localnet src 192.168.1.0/24 # Adjust this CIDR to match your local network
http_access allow localnet
http_access deny all
This configuration allows all devices within the specified IP range to use the proxy while denying access to any outside this range.
Next, let’s set up DNS so our Pi can resolve domain names properly. Edit the resolv.conf file:
sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf
Add nameservers like Google’s or those provided by your ISP:
nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 8.8.4.4
Now we’ll restart Squid to apply the changes to the config file.
sudo systemctl restart squid
We’ll quickly check if Squid is running properly:
sudo systemctl status squid
Testing Your New Proxy
You can test your new proxy by connecting to it from your computer. Open your browser, and have it use your Raspberry Pi’s IP address and port 3128. Try accessing the internet to ensure the proxy is working. If it connects, you have a functioning mobile proxy.
By following these steps, your Raspberry Pi is now configured as a forward proxy that routes the traffic of devices on your local network via Ethernet through the 4G LTE dongle. This setup allows you to control and monitor all outgoing internet traffic, too.
To monitor the activity and performance of your proxy, you can check the Squid access logs:
sudo tail -f /var/log/squid/access.log
If you need to customize your setup further or troubleshoot issues, referring to the Squid documentation can be very helpful.
Conclusion
As we’ve laid out over the course of this guide, setting up your own mobile proxy only takes some hardware and a little software, combined with a few lines of code.
To recap, these are the steps to make our own mobile proxy:
- Assemble your hardware
- Install operating system and proxy software
- Configure network interfaces
- Assign IPs to network interfaces
- Forward incoming traffic
- Configure server details (like ports and ACL)
- Test that proxy is working as intended
Building your own proxy can be done relatively cheaply and opens up a whole new way of interacting with the internet behind a safety net. If you run into any issues, there are many thriving communities to which you can turn for help.
