Guide
Does a Telegram proxy actually work from inside Iran?
A proxy that connects fine from Germany can be completely unreachable from Tehran. Here's why that gap exists, and what FoxProxy does about it.
Most proxy lists are tested from wherever their server happens to run — usually a data center in Europe or the US. A test like that only proves the proxy answers requests from outside Iran. It says nothing about whether Iranian networks can actually reach it, because Iran's internet filtering is applied at the ISP level, inside the country, to traffic leaving Iranian networks. A proxy can pass every external test and still be unreachable the moment someone inside Iran tries to connect to it.
Two different kinds of "blocked"
There are really two separate filtering layers a proxy has to get past:
- Port-level blocking. Some IP:port combinations are blocked outright — the connection attempt simply times out, from Iran, regardless of what protocol is running on it.
- Protocol fingerprinting (DPI). Even when the port is open, deep packet inspection can recognize the pattern of an MTProto handshake a few seconds into the connection and cut it off — which is why proxies using a fake-TLS secret (the ones starting with
ee) tend to survive longer: they make the handshake look like an ordinary HTTPS visit.
A proxy tested only from outside Iran can silently fail either of these checks. The person trying to connect just sees "connecting..." forever, with no indication of why.
How FoxProxy checks for this specifically
Before a proxy is published, FoxProxy runs an additional check — beyond the standard connectivity test — against multiple real network vantage points located inside Iran (Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz, and Karaj). A proxy only gets published if a solid majority of those vantage points can actually open a connection to it. If Iranian networks can't reach it, it's dropped before it's ever posted — you won't see a link that fails this check.
What this means for you
If you're connecting from inside Iran, prioritize fake-TLS proxies (secret starting with ee) on common ports like 443, and expect to switch proxies occasionally as ones you're using eventually get caught by fingerprinting — this is normal and not specific to any one provider. Because FoxProxy re-tests everything hourly against Iranian vantage points, the freshest link in the channel is usually your best bet.