There are a variety of reasons to use proxy servers. You can use them to hide for purposes of anonymity, and you can also use them because you very explicitly want to appear to be located in a specific geographic area.
Personally, I've found the use of proxy servers to be increasingly important working in the online gaming business. The reason is that online gaming sites increasingly block access or alter the way the site appears based on where the site thinks you are located. That makes it hard or impossible to determine if a site is operations and to review the site without using a proxy service.
As an example, recently we thought an online gaming website was closed because we could not access it from the United States, and also could not access it using a proxy server from a few countries that we also usually check just to be sure. But it ended up the site, which was on a .mx domain, could only be accessed from within Mexico.
To get to the bottom of this one, we could not use the limited proxy service we often use, because the proxy service did not have a Mexican proxy server. At this point in time, the best service I've been able to find with broad country coverage at a fairly economical price is Hide My Ass! which does have a proxy server located in Mexico City. Actually, it currently has nearly 600 proxy servers located in 69 countries. You can check out their site here: hidemyass.com/vpn/.
So, for this week's poll question, I'm curious about whether other folks frequently use a proxy service, and why. Besides answering the poll question, be sure to share your perspective, as well as any proxy services you recommend.
Michael


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