The air-gapped Wi-Fi network that every Northstar venue runs on. Same SSID, same subnet, same channel plan at every site. A tech who has installed one venue can install any venue.
Every TrueNorth venue uses the same network configuration. Same SSID, same subnet, same DHCP range, same channel plan. This is intentional — it eliminates an entire class of "works in the office, fails on-site" problems and lets us pre-image hardware with hardcoded IPs.
| SSID | TRUENORTH |
|---|---|
| Password | Per-venue, documented in site folder |
| Subnet | 10.0.0.0/24 |
| Helm static IP | 10.0.0.1 |
| DHCP range | 10.0.0.10 – 10.0.0.250 |
| Wi-Fi band | 2.4 GHz only (5 GHz disabled) |
| Channel | 1, 6, or 11 — picked per site survey, then locked |
| Channel width | 20 MHz |
| Encryption | WPA2-PSK |
| WAN | Disconnected — physically taped over |
| Hardware | GL.iNet GL-MT3000 or equivalent travel router |
Cutting the WAN cable is the single most reliability-boosting decision in show control. No Internet means no Internet to fail at the worst moment.
The most reliable connection is the one you never make. If there's no WAN, there's no Comcast outage to ruin opening night.
Polaris doesn't run TLS or auth — it doesn't need to. The show network has no inbound Internet routing. The air gap is the auth.
No upstream contention. No QoS surprises. No "the streaming guests are eating the bandwidth". The network exists for the show alone.
Venue IT can't accidentally re-IP your nodes, push a domain join, or apply group policy. The show network is yours alone.
We pick 1, 6, or 11 from a site survey and lock it. No auto-channel switching mid-show. No surprise band changes.
A pop-up haunt in October and a museum in February run the same TrueNorth. Move a kit, plug in, your gear joins on first boot.
We pre-allocate the address space by purpose. Every venue uses the same ranges so installs and replacements are mechanical.
| 10.0.0.1 | Helm — static, not DHCP |
|---|---|
| 10.0.0.2 – 9 | Reserved / admin / spare tech laptops |
| 10.0.0.10 – 99 | Polaris nodes — DHCP-reserved by MAC |
| 10.0.0.100 – 199 | Future expansion / third-party gear |
| 10.0.0.200 – 250 | Transient / unreserved DHCP pool |
Every TrueNorth ships factory-reset, then pre-imaged with the standard SSID, DHCP plan, and security settings. The Wi-Fi password is the only per-venue variable, generated and documented in the site folder before shipping.
If a router fails, you swap in any spare from the warehouse, restore the venue's config backup file (provided in every site folder), and the venue is up in five minutes. No password reset. No reconfiguration. Just upload-and-go.
SSID: TRUENORTH Subnet: 10.0.0.0/24 DHCP: .10 – .250 Channel: 6 (locked) Width: 20 MHz WAN: disconnected 5 GHz: disabled Status: ● running
Every Northstar venue ships with a TrueNorth router pre-configured for its address. Spares stock at $129 each. Tech laptops can stay on TRUENORTH alongside the show without any reconfiguration.