Some friends have safety concerns that mean they need to appear digitally as if they’re inside the USA while being elsewhere physically. Standard commercial VPNs are easy to detect (else I’d recommend Mullvad), so they need an option that looks like a residential connection.
They could potentially DIY it by leaving a VPN server at a relative’s house, but I’m asking here for subscription services. It’s best if they have a Mac OS app that’s foolproof, with a clear visual indication that it’s in use, and a feature to block traffic if the VPN is disconnected.
tl;dr: what’s the closest residential VPN to Mullvad?
I don’t think you’ll be able to find a commercial VPN service using residential IPs, let alone a trustworthy one.
There are commercial ones — but they sell to businesses, not individuals. And whether they’re trustworthy is open to discussion.
I’ve heard of them in the context of screwing over people who want an easy income: they’re promised some pennies for their connection being used, then find themselves banned from Netflix and Spotify for “being on a VPN”.
Also, isn’t this where scrapers come from?
There are many, some of which are easily found with a web search for “residential VPN”. That also comes up with a bunch of untrustworthy listicles with affiliate links to the “best” options.
Some of these are extremely shady, using malware to turn unsuspecting victims into exit nodes. Some gain access with consent by offering payment or some other benefit; this probably violates ISP TOS, but I don’t care about that.