Selecting a Relay Server and Proxy Geolocation
📍 Proxy geolocation depends on the phone, not the server
A common question: "If I choose a server in Germany, will I get a German IP?" The answer is no. The geolocation of a mobile proxy is determined exclusively by the physical location of the Android device. The IP address is issued by the mobile carrier, and the carrier is tied to the infrastructure of a specific country. The server is just a routing node — it does not change the geolocation.
💡 Rule: Phone in Brazil → Brazilian proxies. Phone in Poland → Polish proxies. The server choice has no effect on this.
🔧 What is a Relay server and why is it needed
A phone behind NAT is the standard situation: the mobile carrier does not assign a public inbound IP to the device, so it is impossible to connect to the phone directly from the outside.
This is where the Relay server (backconnect gateway) comes in. It is a public node to which the phone itself establishes a connection. The proxy user also connects to this server, and it bridges them together. Traffic flows through the Relay, making the proxy operational.
🌍 Choosing a Relay server: how to minimize ping
Traffic travels two segments:
- 📱 Phone → Relay server
- 💻 Relay server → End client
Ping is the combined latency across both segments. The shorter each one, the faster the proxy. The optimal choice is a server closest to either the phone or the client.
📌 Key insight: When the phone and client are in different countries, the total traffic distance is fixed. The Relay server only redistributes where the “long” segment falls — near the phone or near the client. The resulting ping is the same either way.
⚡ SmartRelay: how to boost proxy speed using Wi-Fi
There is a nuance that significantly affects real proxy speed. By default, traffic from the phone to the Relay server travels over the mobile internet connection. And here is the problem: mobile internet is asymmetric — download speeds are often 5–10 times higher than upload speeds.
For example, if the mobile connection has a download speed of 20 Mbit/s but an upload speed of only 3 Mbit/s, all traffic sent from the phone to the Relay server is limited to 3 Mbit/s. As a result, proxy speed cannot exceed the minimum of the upload or download speed of the mobile connection — in this case, 3 Mbit/s, regardless of how fast the Relay server or the client’s connection is.
SmartRelay solves this problem: when the feature is enabled, traffic from the phone to the Relay server is routed through Wi-Fi instead of the mobile data connection. Wi-Fi is practically always faster and unlimited — the narrow mobile upload channel is no longer a bottleneck. Available in the Mobihub.biz mobile proxy platform Professional plan at $7/month.
💡 SmartRelay in practice: If mobile upload is 3 Mbit/s and Wi-Fi is 100 Mbit/s, enabling SmartRelay delivers more than a 30x speed increase for the proxy.
🗺️ How to get proxies from a specific country without a phone there
Sometimes you need a specific geolocation but have no device in that country. Two options work:
- 🤝 Through a partner — ask someone in the target country to create a proxy on their device.
- 🛒 Ready-made proxies — purchase from sellers on the marketplace.
⚠️ Check the ASN: When buying ready-made proxies, verify that the ASN of the issued IP belongs to a mobile carrier, not a hosting provider. This guarantees a genuine mobile geolocation.
🏁 Conclusion
The geolocation of a mobile proxy is always the country of the phone — the Relay server is only a technical intermediary required because the phone sits behind NAT. Relay server placement affects ping but not the IP country: place it near either the phone or the client and the result is the same.
If proxy speed matters, enable SmartRelay. It redirects the outgoing traffic from the phone through Wi-Fi, removing the mobile upload bottleneck and delivering a dramatic speed increase. Available in the Professional plan.