Company snapshot
| Category | BT (British Telecom) | SimpleCDN |
|---|---|---|
| Status | active | active |
| Founded | — | — |
| Headquarters | — | — |
| Website | — | — |
| Docs | — | — |
Overview
BT (British Telecom), founded in 1846, is a major UK telecommunications provider offering CDN services through its edge infrastructure. It leverages the Streaming Video Alliance’s Open Caching technology, developed with Cisco and Qwilt, to deliver content for 8K video and AR/VR applications. The service targets enterprise customers, particularly those needing high-capacity video delivery. BT operates under its EE brand for mobile services and Openreach for broadband infrastructure. Its CDN is designed to handle modern streaming demands, serving media companies and large-scale businesses.
SimpleCDN, founded in 2007, provides content delivery network services focused on accelerating website and media delivery. Operated by Site Arrow Pte. Ltd., it serves businesses seeking to improve load times for images, videos, and web content. The service targets web design agencies, small to medium-sized businesses, and developers needing quick integration. SimpleCDN emphasizes affordability and ease of use, with a global network to reduce latency. Its customers include those managing multiple websites or requiring fast content delivery for global audiences.
Network & Architecture
BT’s CDN uses a global network with points of presence (PoPs) integrated into its extensive telecom infrastructure, though specific PoP counts are not publicly disclosed. It employs Open Caching to turn existing telecom infrastructure into a federated CDN, optimized for low-latency delivery of high-bandwidth content like 8K video. The network benefits from BT’s EE mobile coverage, reaching over 99% of the UK population, and Openreach’s fibre backbone. It has strong regional presence in EMEA, particularly the UK, with peering optimized for European traffic. Coverage in APAC, LATAM, or other regions is less emphasized.
SimpleCDN operates a network with over 120 points of presence across 77 countries, offering more than 150 Tbps of capacity and an average global latency of 24ms. The network supports HTTP, HTTPS, RTMP, RTSP, and MMS protocols, with on-the-fly gzip compression and cache-control customization. It is designed for high-bandwidth applications like HD video delivery, using a 100% solid-state and 10Gbe architecture. Free SSL certificates from Let’s Encrypt are included for secure content delivery. The service has a strong global footprint but lacks detailed public information on specific regional strengths or peering arrangements.
Feature comparison
| Feature | BT (British Telecom) | SimpleCDN |
|---|---|---|
waf | ✗ | ✗ |
bot_mitigation | ✗ | ✗ |
ddos | ✗ | ✗ |
rate_limit | ✗ | ✗ |
http3_quic | ✓ | ✓ |
tls13 | ✗ | ✓ |
tiered_cache | ✗ | ✗ |
origin_shield | ✗ | ✗ |
instant_purge | ✗ | ✓ |
stale_while_revalidate | ✗ | ✗ |
stale_if_error | ✗ | ✗ |
image_optimization | ✗ | ✓ |
video_vod | ✓ | ✓ |
video_live | ✗ | ✓ |
drm | ✗ | ✗ |
hls_dash_packaging | ✗ | ✗ |
websockets | ✗ | ✗ |
signed_urls | ✗ | ✗ |
edge_compute | ✗ | ✗ |
functions | ✗ | ✗ |
kv_storage | ✗ | ✗ |
api_first | ✓ | ✓ |
realtime_logs | ✓ | ✓ |
log_push | ✗ | ✗ |
terraform | ✗ | ✗ |
Legend: ✓ = Supported, ✗ = Not supported, — = Not listed
Pricing
BT’s CDN pricing is enterprise-focused, typically requiring custom contracts rather than pay-as-you-go or public per-GB rates. No free tier or public pricing details are available. Interested parties must contact BT’s sales team for quotes, as pricing is tailored to large-scale deployments.
SimpleCDN uses a pay-as-you-go model with plans starting at $5/month. No lock-in contracts are required, and pricing is designed to be competitive with single-source providers like Amazon CloudFront. A free trial is not explicitly mentioned, but quick setup is emphasized. Detailed pricing is available at https://simplecdn.com/pricing/.
Integrations & DevEx
BT provides an API-first interface for managing CDN configurations and accessing real-time logs. Documentation is available at https://www.bt.com/about/developers. There is no public mention of Terraform support, SDKs, or specific CI/CD integrations. The focus is on enterprise integrations for media delivery, with limited emphasis on developer-centric tools or migration utilities.
SimpleCDN provides a web-based interface and API for managing CDN zones, with support for team member accounts suitable for agencies. It integrates with WordPress via the {eac}SimpleCDN extension, which rewrites URLs to load content from the CDN. No Terraform or other IaC support is documented. Realtime logs are available, but no SDKs, CI/CD integrations, or migration tools are publicly detailed.
When it fits
- Enterprises needing high-capacity video delivery, especially for 8K or AR/VR content, leveraging BT’s telecom infrastructure.
- UK-based businesses requiring strong regional performance with EE and Openreach integration.
- Organizations seeking custom enterprise CDN solutions with direct support from a legacy telecom provider.
- Small to medium-sized businesses or agencies managing multiple websites needing affordable CDN services.
- Users requiring quick setup and integration with WordPress or API-driven workflows.
- Applications focused on image and video delivery with global audiences.
When it doesn’t
- Small to medium businesses looking for pay-as-you-go or transparent pricing models.
- Developers needing extensive edge compute, serverless functions, or advanced security features like WAF or DDoS protection.
- Companies prioritizing global coverage outside EMEA, as BT’s network focus is heavily UK and Europe-centric.
- Enterprises needing advanced security features like WAF, DDoS protection, or bot mitigation.
- Users requiring detailed analytics, log streaming, or edge compute capabilities.
- Scenarios needing specific regional optimizations or extensive peering documentation.
History & Notes
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