How much internet does a trade show or congress need?

At Congres Lokaal Sportbeleid 2026, 190 devices were connected at the same time at peak out of around 1,000 attendees, and 150 GB of traffic flowed over two days. Design for 20 to 40 percent of attendees being online at once, and give exhibitors with payment or registration systems a wired port.

What if the exhibition hall has no fixed internet line?

Then Astro Rent builds a temporary network with its own internet connections, such as 4G/5G from multiple operators and Starlink, combined in one gateway with automatic failover. The network is ready before stand construction begins and is dismantled afterwards.

When does the network need to be ready at a trade show?

Before stand construction. Exhibitors test their till, scanner or demo as soon as they arrive, not on opening day. That is why we install the network one or two days ahead and keep a team on standby during the event.

Sports congress 2026 temporary network

On 18 and 19 March 2026, around 1,000 sports professionals gathered in Bilzen-Hoeselt for the 51st Congres Lokaal Sportbeleid, the biggest sports congress in Flanders. One of the exhibition halls had no fixed internet line. Astro Rent built a fully temporary network there: wired connection points for exhibitors, WiFi across the whole hall and a standby team during the congress. The result: 190 simultaneous connections at peak, 150 GB of traffic over two days and not a single outage.

The situation

The Congres Lokaal Sportbeleid is organised by Netwerk Lokaal Sportbeleid, formerly ISB, and brings together sports departments, policymakers and suppliers from across the sector every year. The 2026 edition took place at Sportpark Katteberg in Bilzen-Hoeselt, spread over several halls with sessions, speakers and a trade show with dozens of exhibitors.

One hall had no fixed internet connection. That is not unusual in itself: sports halls and exhibition venues are built for sport and spectators, not for eighty exhibitors who all want to be online at the same time. Yet the exhibitors in that hall were counting on internet for their live demos, presentations, payment systems and registration software. Without a network, they would have fallen back on their own phones, with all the glitches that come with a packed hall.

The setup

Our approach for a trade show differs from that for a festival. The crowd is smaller, but the requirements per stand are higher, and an exhibitor who can’t show their demo doesn’t get a second chance.

Wired connection points for exhibitors who don’t want to trust their till, scanner or demo to wireless. A cable doesn’t falter when the hall fills up.
WiFi across the whole hall, with access points placed according to the stand plan, so visitors and speakers were connected too.
Dedicated internet connections, combined in one gateway with automatic failover, because the hall itself offered nothing.
Installation before stand construction, so every exhibitor could test on arrival. Dismantling after the last visitor left.
A standby team on both congress days, monitoring the network live and able to adjust without anyone having to call.

The numbers

Those 190 simultaneous connections out of 1,000 attendees, roughly 19 percent, is a useful figure for anyone planning a trade show or congress. It is lower than what we see at festivals, where the crowd shares video en masse, and it confirms the rule of thumb from our guide to WiFi capacity: it’s not the number of visitors that determines the network, but the number of devices doing something at the same time.

What we take away

When it goes well, you don’t notice a thing. That is the bar for a congress network: no exhibitor walking over to the organisers, no speaker whose demo stalls. For two days, that never happened.

Starting on time is half the work. Because the network was ready before stand construction, exhibitors’ first questions were answered before the doors opened. Delivering a network only on opening day means starting behind.

Wired where it counts, wireless where it can. For payments and registrations, a cable remains the most reliable choice. WiFi handles the rest.

Are you organising a congress, trade show or training day at a venue with no fixed line, or with a line that can’t handle the event? See what we do for events and corporate events, or request a quote right away with your stand plan and expected number of attendees.