# Buying city proxies: 26 terms explained

> City proxy glossary: 26 terms on city targeting, ASNs, sticky sessions, IP geolocation, GDPR and SOCKS5, in plain English. EuroCity Proxies, no KYC, crypto.

- URL: https://eurocityproxies.com/glossary/
- Last updated: 2026-10-18
- Publisher: EuroCity Proxies (https://eurocityproxies.com)

Short definitions of the terms used across this site, from city targeting and ASNs to geofeeds, functional urban areas and the GDPR.

**Quick answer — What does city targeting mean for a proxy?**

City targeting means the proxy gateway only hands you exit IPs that geolocate to the city you name. At **EuroCity Proxies** it is a username parameter, such as `-country-cz-city-brno`, included on every plan from $0.95 for 1 GB as of October 2026. City availability varies; the checkout shows what is online.

## Terms

**Residential proxy** — A proxy whose exit IP belongs to a home internet connection assigned by a consumer ISP, not to a data centre.

**Exit IP** — The IP address that the target website sees. Check it with an IP lookup such as ipinfo.io through the proxy.

**Gateway** — The single host you connect to (`gw.eurocityproxies.com`), which forwards each connection through an exit IP that matches your username parameters.

**City targeting** — A username parameter (`-city-<name>`) that limits exits to IPs geolocated to one city. Included on every EuroCity Proxies plan.

**Country code** — The two-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code of a country, such as `de`, `fr` or `pl`, written in lower case in the username.

**ASN (autonomous system number)** — The number of a network that announces its own IP ranges, such as AS3320 for Deutsche Telekom. In Europe the RIPE NCC assigns them.

**ASN targeting** — A username parameter (`-asn-<number>`) that keeps the exit on one network. Free of charge at EuroCity Proxies.

**Rotating session** — A mode where each new connection gets an IP from the pool, usually a different one.

**Sticky session** — A mode that keeps one exit IP for the time you set with `-session-<id>-ttl-<minutes>`, up to 30 minutes at EuroCity Proxies; the IP can change earlier.

**Keep-alive** — An HTTP feature that reuses one open connection for several requests. On a rotating proxy, the requests on that connection keep the same IP.

**HTTP CONNECT** — The method an HTTP proxy uses to open a tunnel for HTTPS traffic; the proxy sees the hostname, not the page content.

**SOCKS5** — A proxy protocol that forwards any TCP connection. EuroCity Proxies serves it on port 7778.

**socks5h** — The curl and Python scheme that lets the SOCKS5 proxy resolve the hostname instead of your machine.

**IP allowlist** — A list of your own IP addresses that may use the proxy without a password. Up to 10 IPs at EuroCity Proxies.

**Sub-user** — A separate set of proxy credentials under one account, with its own traffic cap, for a client or project.

**GB (gigabyte)** — 1,000,000,000 bytes. Usage counts upload and download, headers included.

**IP geolocation database** — A commercial or free dataset that estimates the country and city of IP address blocks; different databases can disagree for the same block.

**Geofeed (RFC 8805)** — A file in which a network operator publishes the location of its own IP prefixes, which geolocation providers can read.

**CGNAT** — Carrier-grade NAT: many customers share one public IP, common on mobile networks and some fixed ones.

**LAU (local administrative unit)** — Eurostat's term for a municipality, the level at which most city population figures on this site are given.

**Functional urban area (FUA)** — Eurostat's definition of a city plus its commuting zone, used on this site for the wider urban population.

**VAT** — Value added tax, included in consumer prices in Europe. Standard rates on this site range from 8.1% in Switzerland to 27% in Hungary.

**GDPR** — The EU General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679), which governs personal data processing in the EU and EEA.

**Data protection authority (DPA)** — The public body that supervises the GDPR or a national privacy law in one country or region, such as the CNIL in France or the BayLDA in Bavaria.

**TDM exception** — The text and data mining exceptions of articles 3 and 4 of the EU Copyright Directive (2019/790); rights holders can reserve their works from article 4 mining.

**KYC (know your customer)** — Identity checks before a purchase. EuroCity Proxies asks for no ID, no selfie and no documents to sign up, top up or buy.

## Glossary: FAQ

### Is a residential proxy the same as a mobile proxy?

No. A residential exit belongs to a home broadband line; a mobile exit belongs to a 4G or 5G carrier network, often behind CGNAT. EuroCity Proxies sells mobile ports by zone, but its city pages cover residential traffic.

### Is an ISP proxy a residential proxy?

Usually not. "ISP proxy" mostly means a static IP hosted in a data centre and registered to an ISP. EuroCity Proxies sells rotating residential IPs only.

### Where are these terms used?

Mostly in the [targeting overview](https://eurocityproxies.com/targeting/), the [gateway docs](https://eurocityproxies.com/docs/) and the [guides](https://eurocityproxies.com/guides/). The [home page](https://eurocityproxies.com/) and the [FAQ](https://eurocityproxies.com/faq/) give the short version.

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EuroCity Proxies: EuroCity Proxies is a residential proxy provider with city-level targeting across Europe, paid in crypto with no ID upload: home-broadband IPs billed per GB, with a page of local data for each of 103 cities in 35 countries.