ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Midjourney and Cursor don't ask the same thing of your network: some check where the exit IP is registered, some break when the connection drops, and some only show problems at the API stage. This page splits web, API and developer-tool scenarios apart and gives you checkable criteria for each.
With the same tool, the web app and the API rarely bottleneck in the same place. Look at the four points below one by one and you'll know what to ask when choosing a route.
Some tools decide which features to unlock based on where the exit IP is registered. When the account region and the exit region disagree for a long time, sign-in is more likely to demand extra verification. Choose an exit with a stable registration you can reuse long term.
When one exit is shared by a large number of users, sign-in and sign-up are more likely to trigger verification. Narrowing down to a fixed exit and keeping one account on the same exit long term is steadier than changing address on every connection.
Answers come back one token at a time, so a single dropped packet mid-stream can leave the page stuck halfway. This kind of traffic doesn't fear peak bandwidth — it fears packet loss and jitter. When choosing a route, put those two metrics ahead of speed.
If the exit IP changes mid-session, the server treats it as a different device: at best it asks for verification again, at worst it kills the task in progress. The route has to hold the same exit for a stretch of time instead of re-selecting a path on every request.
Route suggestions based on each tool's network profile. Only route types are covered here — no measured speed or availability figures; for specific regions, see the list on the routes page.
| Tool | Network profile | Suggested route | Key points |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT web app | Signed-in session + streaming | IEPL dedicated line | Keep the same exit for the session |
| ChatGPT API | Frequent small requests, concurrency | Relay · Fixed Exit | Tune timeouts and retries |
| Claude web app | Long-form streaming output | IEPL dedicated line | Prefer a low-jitter route |
| Claude API | Large request bodies, timeout-sensitive | Relay / Direct | Loosen timeouts, avoid resends |
| Gemini | Account region checks | IEPL dedicated line | Match the exit region to the account region |
| Microsoft Copilot | Many page assets | Relay | Static assets go through the route too |
| Midjourney(Discord) | Long-lived WebSocket connection | IEPL dedicated line | A drop kills the image job |
| Cursor / IDE plugins | Constant background requests | Relay / Direct | Check that the plugin follows the proxy |
Within one tool, these three paths fail in different places — handling them separately saves time.
The web app is all about one session from start to finish. From sign-in and verification to the conversation itself, the browser keeps a long connection open to the server, and any change of exit along the way can make the server re-assess the risk.
Sign up and first sign-in should happen on the same exit. Registering from one region's exit and signing in from another is the most common combination that triggers extra verification.
The big difference from the web app is that no browser holds the session together: every request stands alone, so problems usually come from timeouts, concurrency and retry policy rather than from whether a page will open.
Servers look at where a request comes from during authentication. When the exit IP changes often, some services reject the request outright; a relay with a fixed exit suits this kind of call better. Responses are streamed, so read them as a stream instead of waiting for the whole body to arrive.
The trouble with developer setups is that traffic has more than one entry point: commands in the terminal, plugins in the IDE and build jobs in CI can each take a different path, while the error message usually just says network error.
The first step isn't switching routes — it's confirming whether each entry point actually goes through the route at all. See the config examples in the next section.
Use the symptom to find the layer first, then decide whether to switch routes — most problems live in local config, not on the route.
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Bounced back to the sign-in page right after logging in | Exit IP changed mid-session | Pin the exit; don't switch routes mid-session |
| Answer freezes halfway and stops updating | Streaming connection broken by packet loss | Switch to a low-jitter route; check the local proxy chain |
| "Region not supported" message | Exit is registered in an unsupported region | Switch to a route in the target region that matches the account |
| API returns an authentication failure | Exit IP flagged as an unusual source | Move to a fixed-exit relay and lower concurrency |
| API times out while the web app works | Timeout too short, or connections not reused | Loosen the timeout, enable keep-alive |
| Image job drops halfway through the queue | Long-lived WebSocket connection dropped | Switch to a dedicated line; don't change routes during the job |
| IDE plugin reports a network error | The plugin isn't using the proxy | Enter the local port in the plugin's own settings |
The examples below use placeholder values; use whatever port your client actually listens on.
Once connected, the client listens on a local proxy port. Add the lines below to the current terminal session and commands there will use the route; close the terminal and the setting expires on its own without touching system-wide settings.
# Applies to this terminal session only; use the port your client actually listens on
export HTTPS_PROXY="http://127.0.0.1:7890"
export HTTP_PROXY="http://127.0.0.1:7890"
export NO_PROXY="localhost,127.0.0.1,::1"To verify: request an address that only responds when the route works. If you get response headers back, the request really did leave through the route.
# Response headers mean the request went through the route
curl -sS -I https://example.com/Plugins fall into two groups: some follow the system proxy and work as soon as the client connects; others have their own proxy settings, where you enter the same local port by hand. After installing a plugin, send one simple request to confirm it really goes through the route before you rely on it — otherwise later errors are easily misread as route problems.
CI has no interactive UI, so inject the exit and the credentials from CI secret management rather than committing them to the repo. Set a timeout ceiling and a retry ceiling for network requests: use exponential backoff instead of hammering at a fixed interval, and keep concurrent connections within reason — push them too high and the traffic looks anomalous.
When the web app and an IDE plugin run on the same machine, they can be judged as a sign-in from another location if they use different exits. Keep them on one exit; this service allows unlimited simultaneous devices, so device count itself is not a limit.
Here is the above distilled into five actionable recommendations.
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Ordered by how often they come up.
Not necessarily. The web app is one long session held by the browser, while API calls are made independently, so they fail in different places. Timeouts more often come from the client: a threshold set too low, no connection reuse, concurrency pushed too high. Loosen the timeout and turn on connection reuse first, then judge whether packet loss on the route is the real cause.
Servers judge the exit IP together with access patterns. Changing devices changes the pattern, and if the exit changes too, verification becomes more likely. Keep one account on an exit in the same region long term, and don't switch routes mid-session.
No. API requests are small and don't need much peak bandwidth, so a fixed-exit relay is usually enough; only move up to a dedicated line when requests time out often, packet loss is obvious, or latency variation really hurts.
These jobs run over long-lived connections, so a drop usually comes from local network jitter or a route switch. First confirm only one proxy is running on the machine, then check whether the route was switched automatically during the job; once the route is pinned, the problem usually goes away.
Usually not, but make sure both use the same exit. If the web app goes through one region and the plugin through another, the account can be flagged as signing in from another location. Once the exit is unified, device count isn't a limit: this service allows unlimited simultaneous devices.