Every year, tens of thousands of exhibitors, speakers, journalists, and delegates fly into the United States for major trade shows and conferences: CES (Las Vegas), NRF (New York), Dreamforce (San Francisco), NAB (Las Vegas), SXSW (Austin), and hundreds more.
And in 2026, the biggest event of them all lands on North American soil: the FIFA World Cup™.
With matches in 16 host cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico—including Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and more!
Hundreds of thousands of international delegates, broadcasters, sponsors, journalists, and corporate teams will descend on the U.S. all at once. Many will face the exact same tech headaches listed below, only on an even larger scale and with zero margin for error when they’re live on global television.
You’ve got the visa, the hotel, and the booth space (or broadcast compound) booked. Now imagine your team landing at LAX or JFK only to discover that the laptops, tablets, and AV gear you shipped from Berlin, São Paulo, Dubai, or Tokyo are…
- Stuck in customs or delayed by freight forwarders,
- Damaged in transit and unusable when they finally arrive,
- Hit with thousands of dollars in unexpected shipping, drayage, and union handling fees at the venue,
- Technically incompatible (wrong voltage, keyboard layout, or cellular bands), or
- Completely on their own if something goes wrong once the show starts.
At Rentacomputer.com, we’ve helped thousands of international teams eliminate every one of these headaches at U.S. events since 1987.
Below are the most common (and expensive) problems foreign teams run into—and the simple, battle-tested solutions that guarantee your gear arrives on time, undamaged, fully supported, and ready to work the moment you walk in.
Voltage & Plug Incompatibility (The Silent Gear-Killer)
That seemingly small difference creates three very real nightmares for international teams:
- Immediate failure – Many newer chargers and laptops have “universal” power supplies (100–240V), but older gear, high-wattage workstations, video walls, lighting consoles, and broadcast equipment will simply refuse to turn on when faced with half the expected voltage.
- Slow, silent damage – Devices that do start often pull too much current through cheap travel adapters, overheat, and fry internal components after a few hours. We’ve seen $15,000+ cinema cameras and broadcast decks destroyed in a single day because someone trusted a $9 plug adapter from the airport.
- Fire-code and insurance violations – Convention centers and venues are increasingly strict. If an electrician spots a foreign power supply or a daisy-chained stack of adapters, they can red-tag your booth and shut you down until it’s fixed—at your expense.
Solution: Rent equipment that’s 100% U.S.-native from day one.
Bringing Your Own Devices Through Customs (And Never Seeing Them Again)
Shipping or carrying high-value tech into the United States is a gamble most international teams lose:
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) routinely pulls aside laptops, broadcast cameras, servers, and AV racks for secondary inspection. A single missing serial number on your Carnet or an incomplete Temporary Importation Bond (TIB) can mean your gear is held for days—or weeks.
- You may be forced to post a cash deposit (often 50–100% of the gear’s value) just to get it released. That money can sit tied up for months.
- When you leave, your home country’s customs service sees the same equipment coming back in and frequently hits you with full import duties plus penalties—because they assume it was purchased in the U.S.
- Worst case: paperwork errors lead to outright seizure. We’ve seen six-figure broadcast kits forfeited because a single form was filled out wrong.
Solution: Leave every company-owned device at home and rent locally.
We deliver brand-new or like-new equipment—often better spec’d than what you own—directly to your hotel, booth, or broadcast compound. Serial numbers, invoices, and return shipping are all handled by us. No Carnet, no bond, no deposit, no double taxation, and zero risk of your gear disappearing into a government warehouse. You fly light, work heavy, and go home empty-handed—exactly the way customs wants it.
Cellular & Wi-Fi That Doesn’t Work (The Connectivity Nightmare)
You land in the U.S. excited and ready, only to discover your phone is basically a brick:
- Most phones sold outside North America miss key LTE and 5G bands used by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon (especially Bands 2, 4, 12, 66, 71, and n71). You’ll see “No Service” or painfully slow 3G fallback in half the country.
- Venue and convention-center Wi-Fi is notoriously overloaded. At peak hours during CES, NAB, or a World Cup match, tens of thousands of devices fight for the same congested access points—speeds drop to dial-up levels.
- Registration portals often break on foreign devices (captcha fails, SMS verification never arrives because your roaming SIM can’t receive U.S. short codes, or the portal blocks non-U.S. IP ranges).
- Result: no maps, no Slack, no ride-share, no last-minute presentation updates, and your live stream dies the moment you go on stage.
Solution: Rent dedicated, U.S.-native cellular connectivity that simply works.
Add one (or twenty) of our unlimited Verizon + T-Mobile 5G hotspots to your rental package.
- Dual-carrier redundancy means you’re always on the strongest signal—no dead zones.
- Truly unlimited data with no throttling, even at sold-out stadiums or convention centers.
- Devices are pre-activated and turned on the second you power them up—no captive portals, no SMS verification, no roaming fees.
- We can even deliver them pre-connected to your hotel room the night before or hand them to your team at the airport curb.
Your team stays online from touchdown to takeoff—whether you’re in downtown Miami during the World Cup final or in the middle of the Javits Center on NRF’s busiest day.
Short-Term Power and Connectivity at the Booth (The $10,000 Surprise)
U.S. convention centers and stadiums treat electricity and internet like luxury add-ons:
- A single 120V/20-amp “power drop” to your booth can cost $800–$2,500 depending on the show. Need 208V/30-amp for a video wall or broadcast setup? That’s $5,000–$15,000 per event.
- Official show internet is notoriously slow and outrageously priced—often $1,500–$5,000 for a single 10 Mbps shared line that collapses the moment the exhibit hall opens.
- Union rules in most major venues require an electrician to plug in anything above 15 amps, and they’ll happily charge you $150+/hour just to move a power strip six inches.
- Drayage (moving your gear from the loading dock to your booth) adds another $150–$300 per 100 lbs if you ship your own equipment.
Solution: Skip the show services entirely and rent self-contained, private power and connectivity.
We deliver everything your booth needs—independent of the venue’s overpriced infrastructure:
- Battery-powered laptops and tablets that run 12–16 hours on a single charge
- High-capacity rolling charging stations (up to 40 devices at once) with built-in UPS backup
- Private 5G/4G failover hotspots (Verizon + T-Mobile) that deliver 100–500 Mbps dedicated bandwidth
- All equipment arrives pre-labeled, pre-tested, and placed exactly where you want it—often before you even finish badge pickup
You avoid the lines, the union electricians, the surprise invoices, and the inevitable “your internet just dropped during your keynote” moment. Your booth stays powered, connected, and completely under your control—for a fraction of what the venue would charge.
We’ve been the behind-the-scenes technology partner for Fortune 100 companies, global broadcasters, and major event productions since 1987. Here’s exactly why they keep coming back:
- Gear is already in the U.S. – no international shipping delays, no customs delays, no containers lost at sea. Tens of thousands of laptops, workstations, AV racks, and accessories are stocked in warehouses across the country and ready to ship the moment you place your order.
- On-time delivery, guaranteed – simply place your order with the recommended advance notice and we’ll have everything waiting at your venue, hotel, or broadcast compound on the exact day promised.
- On-site technician support available on request – at every major show and every U.S. World Cup venue. Need a badged tech on the floor 24/7, overnight, or just on standby? We can have them there, ready to swap gear or solve problems in minutes.
- One invoice, one point of contact, zero surprises – no customs forms, no drayage headaches, no union electrician bills, no venue internet charges. You get a single, all-inclusive quote upfront and we handle everything else.
From a small trade-show booth to a 500-person delegation covering the World Cup final, we make the technology completely disappear so you can focus on what really matters—winning the room or the match.
Every rental includes prepaid return labels and all original packaging. When your event ends, just:
- Repack everything exactly as it arrived (check your packing slip so no chargers, cables, mice, adapters, or toner are left behind)
- For iPads: log out of iCloud and turn off Find My iPad
- For laptops: clear any BIOS password you set
- Apply the prepaid label and drop the box(es) at the nearest FedEx or UPS location (or schedule a pickup in advance)
That’s it. We track the return, securely wipe all data to DoD standards upon request, and confirm everything is closed out. Miss the return window or any items and standard late/missing fees apply, but follow these steps and your team walks away clean, on time, and worry-free. Questions? Just call 800-736-8772 — we’re here to help.
One point of contact, one invoice, zero customs headaches. Everything below is available for pre-booking now:
- Broadcast-grade laptops, workstations, and 8K editing rigs
- Gaming PCs and high-refresh-rate monitors for player lounges & esports activations
- iPads, tablets, and large touchscreen kiosks (with custom language packs)
- 4K/8K LED video walls, projectors, and outdoor-rated displays
- Professional live-streaming kits and PTZ camera packages
- Private 5G/LTE failover hotspots – Verizon + T-Mobile redundancy, truly unlimited
- Rugged Wi-Fi networks and point-to-point wireless bridges for stadium compounds
- Silent generator-backed charging stations and UPS power for remote sites
- Printers, copiers, badge printers, and on-site label solutions
- Two-way radios, walkie-talkies, and push-to-talk over cellular
- On-site technicians (badged and available 24/7 on request) inside and around every venue
- Volume pricing and dedicated account managers for groups of 20–5,000+ devices
Get ahead of the global rush. Lock in your inventory and guaranteed delivery windows today. Call 1-800-736-8772 or request a quote at rentacomputer.com/quote
When you choose to rent from us, you not only receive the finest equipment but also receive exceptional support from expert tech travel agents with extensive experience in technology rentals and event production. Our agents manage all delivery and installation logistics, allowing you to focus on your top priorities.
Our account manager Brian Kubala specializes in exhibitor rentals like displays, kiosks, event engagement rentals, laptops, tablets, smartphones, internet hotspots, accessory rentals, and much more. Brian will gladly handle any questions you may have regarding rentals to make your event exhibition easier. Contact Brian today at 1-800-736-8772 ext. 271 or fill out a fast, easy online quote form.
New: Book an appointment now with Brian Kubala and Rentacomputer.com through Calendly!
Visit our PC & AV Rental Pricing Factors page to find out about our pricing estimates.
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