For the second year in a row, Astro Rent delivered the temporary network at Bevrijdingsfestival Brabant on the Pettelaarse Schans in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Our assignment: provide rock-solid, fully managed connectivity for our partner EventPay’s cashless payment solution, spread across the entire festival site. The result? An edition that — just like last year — went off without a hitch.

At a cashless festival, the network isn’t a background condition — it’s the backbone of the entire event. If the network goes down, payments at the bars and food trucks stop. That’s why we deliberately opted for an even more robust setup than the previous edition.

The challenge: payments can never stop

EventPay handles the cashless payments at Bevrijdingsfestival Brabant. That means every payment terminal — at every bar and every food truck — needs a stable connection at all times. On a site as large as the Pettelaarse Schans, with payment points spread across the full surface area, that’s a serious networking challenge.

Specifically, we needed to provide:

Reliable WiFi coverage for the terminals at 6 bars, spread across the entire site
Full coverage of a separate food truck area
A setup ensuring payments continue even if something goes wrong — no single point of failure

Our approach: redundancy at every level

A full ring to handle cable breaks

The biggest improvement over last year: we deployed the network this year as a full ring. In a classic star or line topology, one damaged cable means part of the site goes offline. In a ring topology, the signal travels in both directions, so a cable break is automatically absorbed — traffic simply takes the other route. On a busy festival site, where cables are inevitably exposed to vehicles, rigging and thousands of feet, this is the difference between an invisible incident and a payment shutdown.

Targeted coverage with directional access points

This year we deployed new directional access points. Rather than broadcasting in all directions, these access points focus coverage precisely where it’s needed: on EventPay’s payment terminals. That delivers a stronger, cleaner signal at the spots that matter, with less interference and less noise from the thousands of smartphones on the site.

Triple failover: fixed line, Starlink and 5G

For this client, everything revolves around complete peace of mind. That’s why we built in three independent internet sources:

A fixed connection on site as the primary link
A Starlink connection as the first failover
A 5G connection as the second failover

If one source drops, the next takes over seamlessly. This way, there is no scenario in which payment traffic is interrupted by an uplink issue.

Nearly 1 km of cabling — fibre and copper

To connect it all, we ran nearly 1 kilometre of cabling, a combination of fibre optic and copper. Fibre for the long distances and the ring’s backbone, copper for the shorter runs to access points and terminals. From around 100 metres, fibre is an absolute must to keep the connection stable.

On-site presence throughout the festival

Designing a solid network is one thing — standing behind it during the event is another. That’s why we remained on site and on call for the entire festival, ready to step in immediately if anything went wrong.

We’re pleased to report that wasn’t necessary.

The result

Just like last year, Bevrijdingsfestival Brabant 2026 was one of our larger installations — and just like last year, everything ran without a single issue. EventPay could rely on a stable, redundant network throughout the day, and the organisation and visitors noticed nothing of the technology behind it. Exactly as it should be.

For us, this second edition confirms what Astro Rent stands for: a temporary network you don’t see, but one you can always count on.

Planning a cashless event?

Are you organising a festival, trade show or event where cashless payments, ticketing or stable WiFi are essential? Astro Rent takes care of the complete temporary network — from design and installation to monitoring and on-site presence. Get in touch with us and find out how we can take care of every aspect of your event.

Frequently asked questions

What is a redundant network at an event? A redundant network is a network with built-in backup paths, so that a failure — such as a cable break or a lost internet connection — is automatically absorbed without any drop in connectivity. At Bevrijdingsfestival Brabant 2026, Astro Rent achieved this with a ring topology and three independent internet sources (fixed line, Starlink and 5G).

Why is a stable network important for cashless payments? With cashless payments, every transaction goes through a payment terminal that requires a real-time connection. If the network goes down, payments at the bar or food truck stop. A redundant network with failover ensures that payment traffic continues uninterrupted, even during a technical incident.

What does a directional access point do? A directional access point sends the WiFi signal towards a specific zone rather than broadcasting in all directions. This gives critical devices — such as payment terminals — a stronger and cleaner signal, with less interference from other transmitters and devices on a busy site.

Why does Astro Rent use both fibre and copper? Fibre is used for long distances and the network’s backbone (from around 100 metres it is essential to keep the connection stable), while copper is suitable for shorter runs to access points and terminals. At Bevrijdingsfestival Brabant 2026, Astro Rent laid nearly 1 km of cabling of both types.