Skip to content

Lumen versus CDNetworks

Easily compare Lumen and CDNetworks for POP locations, products, pricing, features & support. We hope this helps you better understand the similarities and differences between these content delivery networks.

Lumen logo CDNetworks logo

Company

Company Lumen CDNetworks
Short profile Lumen (formerly known as Centurylink or Level 3) owns and operates a global Tier-1 network and - logically - their CDN runs on top of it. Lumen CDN has POPs on many continents and their product focus is on video, large object delivery and edge computing. Founded in 2000, CDNetworks has been in the content delivery space longer than most other CDNs. CDNetworks always had, and still has, a strong focus on emerging markets like Brazil and Russia. CDNetworks has a wide range of content delivery/acceleration and security products.

Products

Yes
Sort of/partially
No
Extra costs
Unknown
Product Lumen CDNetworks
Dynamic content deliveryNon-cacheable content delivery. User login, shopping cart ... CDN Edge Compute Dynamic Web Acceleration
Small file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of small files (file size <1 MB) CDN and/or CDN Edge Compute Content Acceleration
Large file deliveryStatic object delivery; caching of large files (file size >1 MB)
Live videoDelivery of live video. RTMP? Transcoding/transmuxing? CDN and/or CDN Mesh Delivery Media Acceleration
Video on demandDelivery of on demand video CDN and/or CDN Mesh Delivery Media Acceleration
Image OptimizationAutomatic image transformation/compression/optimization part of CDN Edge Compute Cloud Image Optimization
DNSAuthoritative DNS for customer domain Cloud DNS+
WAFWeb Application Firewall WAF Web Application Firewall
Anti-DDoSDDoS attack protection. Specific product(s) for this. Lumen DDoS Hyper (on-demand) and DDoS Mitigation Service DDoS Mitigation
Private CDNDedicated edge resources & custom configs CDN Mesh Delivery for Enterprise
Edge ComputeRun your code on CDN edge servers Edge Compute Edge Computing Platform

Network

How many POP locations do Lumen and CDNetworks have in different parts of the world?

Region Lumen CDNetworks
North America 28 11
Latin America 11 7
Europe 35 13
Russia & CIS 0 18
Asia excl. China 7 19
China 0 20
Oceania 5 1
Middle-East 4 9
Africa 3 4

Pricing

Pricing & contract duration Lumen CDNetworks
Minimum contract term Unknown 12 months
Minimum monthly costs Unknown Unknown
Requests costsCustomers pay for client to CDN requests Unknown Unknown
Ingress costsCustomers pay for origin-to-CDN bytes transferred Unknown Unknown
NA/EU traffic (low volume) Unknown Unknown
APAC traffic (low volume) Unknown Unknown
LATAM traffic (low volume) Unknown Unknown

Features

Yes
Sort of/partially
No
Extra costs
Unknown
Web acceleration Lumen CDNetworks
Instant setupSign up, configure, start testing. Not yet, but coming soon. Can't sign up and get started. Must talk to sales.
Change propagation delayHow fast do config changes propagate to all POPs? No longer than 15 minutes - Often instant ~ 15 minutes
Apex/root domain OK Blog: Root domain on CDN and performanceNo performance degradation when using http(s)://domain.com Available with Section product for an additional fee Non-Anycasted network
HTTP/2
WebSockets
IPv6Do the edge servers have IPv6?
Compression CDN Guide: CompressionReduce file size for faster delivery Resend from origin, or compress on edge Resend from origin, or compress on edge
Origin pull - protocolHTTP only or HTTPS possible too? HTTP and HTTPS. HTTP and HTTPS
Origin pull - Host headerUse client > edge value? Set specific value? Configure specific other Host header
tooltip CDN can also forward client request Host header to origin
Configure specific other Host header
tooltip CDN can also forward client request Host header to origin
Origin ShieldOne POP pulls from origin, other POPs pull from the shield POP Multiple POPs can act as shield
Waiting RoomDuring peak traffic, route users to a virtual waiting room
Push / uploadStore your content directly on CDN, no customer origin FTP, SFTP, rsync. Storage costs apply
Cache control - CDN caching Full and granular control
Cache control - client caching Full and granular control
Serve Stale CDN Guide: Serve StaleCDN serves cached but expired content in case origin is in trouble
Purge CDN Guide: PurgeInvalidate or delete cached objects on CDN Instant Completion time is 5 - 10 minutes
Purge - capabilities Purge all but not purge by directory or tag or header Purge all, purge by directory, by file extension
Analytics
Log files
API Purge, analytics, configuration Purge, analytics, configuration
HTTPS & Content Protection Lumen CDNetworks
CDN domain HTTPSUse the CDN's domain, like cloudfront.net
Customer domain HTTPSYour domain in the CDN's certificate
Customer cert HTTPSYour certificate on the CDN
Token authentication
Geo blocking
Hotlink protectionThird parties cannot deeplink to your content
Basic authenticationUser logs in on the CDN to get content
IP white/blacklisting

Support

Customer support Lumen CDNetworks
Documentation Yes, but not public Yes, but not public
Humans All customers get 24/7 email and phone support