Read a 50-address sample in five minutes

You do not need to inspect every address. Four ratios, computed on one sample, separate a real residential pool from a relabelled datacenter.

1. Type mixGroup the sample by type: residential / ISP / hosting / CDN / VPN / Tor. A "residential" pool that is 80% hosting is a hosting pool with a residential story.
2. ASN concentrationCount distinct ASNs and the share of the biggest one. Healthy residential samples spread across many consumer ISPs. One ASN holding more than half is a red flag.
3. Country consistencyCheck that the sample actually sits in the country you paid for. Mixed countries in one "Germany" pool means the label is aspirational.
4. Flagged rateShare of addresses that are datacenter, proxy, Tor or blacklisted. In a genuine residential sample this should be low; a high rate means the source is not what the label says.
Read them togetherA pool can pass one number and fail another: clean types but single ASN, or diverse ASNs but wrong country. The combination is the verdict.
Then decideAsk for a second sample 48 hours later. If the ASN spread and countries are stable, the pool is probably real. If everything shifted, you are buying churn.

Checker Pricing

Tips

Is 50 enough?

For a first pass, yes. For a large pool, sample 20 from three different subnets.

What is a healthy biggest-ASN share?

There is no fixed number. Below ~25% usually looks like consumer spread; above 50% is a concentration warning.

Do city differences matter?

Rarely. Country is the signal platforms weigh; cities are noisy estimates.