Home network · research brief · Wexford · 26 October 2026

Fibre → Starlink → 5G, without anyone noticing

You already pay for three independent ways into the internet. What’s missing is one box that watches all three and switches on its own.

The answer, before anything else

A UniFi Cloud Gateway Fiber runs all three links. A UniFi 5G Max is the 5G leg. A battery keeps it all running in a power cut.

Hardware costs about €630 one-off. The 5G SIM adds €13–15 a month.

A battery power station adds roughly €500–800. Without one, failover dies in a power cut.

Prefer one box? A Teltonika RUTM50 (€485–520) has the 5G modem built in.

What “seamless” actually means

There are two kinds of failover. They differ a lot in cost and complexity.

Ordinary failover. Every option here does this. The router switches links within 3–15 seconds of fibre going quiet.

Your public IP changes, so open connections are cut. Video calls freeze, then reconnect by themselves.

Truly seamless. All traffic runs through a tunnel to a data-centre server. When a link dies, the tunnel carries on in under a second.

Calls don’t drop. You pay for it with a subscription, 10–30 ms of extra lag, and sites sometimes treating you as a VPN.

Recommendation: start with ordinary failover. Fibre to the home fails only a few times a year.

Add a tunnel only if a 10-second call drop costs you money. Option D covers how.

The recommended build

Fibre ONT→ WAN 1 Starlink (bypass mode)→ WAN 2 UniFi 5G Max→ WAN 3 UCG-Fiber→ Your Wi-Fi + wired devices

Why this combination

UCG-Fiber: supports up to six WAN links at once. Its 10G port won’t hold back a gigabit fibre line.
UniFi 5G Max: one PoE cable carries power and data. You can mount it wherever the signal is best.
Dual SIM and eSIM: the 5G Max can switch networks by itself.
One app: your phone is notified on every failover and fail-back.
Data caps: set a cap per SIM so a long outage can’t run up a bill.

Why Starlink second and 5G third

Your order is right for rural Wexford. Starlink depends on nothing local except your own power.

Mast batteries typically last hours, not days. A big storm can take out power, fibre and the nearest mast together.

Starlink also has no data cap. Keep 5G as the last resort.

Wi-Fi check: the UCG-Fiber has no Wi-Fi radio.

If your Wi-Fi comes from the ISP or Starlink router, add an access point (€150–220). An existing mesh in AP mode also works.

Cost breakdown

One-off: recommended build

Item	Price	Notes
UniFi Cloud Gateway Fiber	€250–269	Ubiquiti EU store. Other retailers charge €299–346.
UniFi 5G Max	€359	Ubiquiti EU store. One reseller charges €477, so buy direct.
PoE injector	~€20–30	Only if nothing supplies PoE.
Wi-Fi access point	~€150–220	ONLY IF NEEDED
Core total	≈ €630–660	About €880 with an access point.

Monthly

Line	Cost / month	Notes
Fibre	existing	No change.
Starlink	~€35–75 (existing)	Tiers by speed. Sources disagree, so check the app.
5G SIM	€12.99–14.99	A second network’s SIM adds about €13.
Seamless tunnel	€0	Only with Option D (€5–25+).

The cost lever: as a backup, Starlink is your most expensive line. Check the app for a cheaper tier at your Eircode.

Don’t drop to “Standby” mode. At roughly 500 kbps it’s not a real failover link.

The alternatives, compared

Option	One-off	Failover	Best if…
A. UniFi UCG-Fiber + 5G Max recommended	≈ €630	SECONDS	You want a polished app and room to grow.
B. Teltonika RUTM50	€485–520	SECONDS	You want one industrial box with 5G built in. Buy the EU variant.
C. GL.iNet GL-X3000	~€390	SECONDS	You want the cheapest option. Only two Ethernet ports, so three links are awkward.
D. Add a seamless tunnel	varies	SUB-SECOND	Dropped calls cost you money.

Option D: three routes to truly seamless

Peplink with SpeedFusion: the polished commercial option. A B One lists at about $359 US, plus a subscription.
Speedify on a router: runs on GL.iNet routers. A 2024 licence was about $300 a year, steep for home use.
OpenMPTCProuter plus your own VPS: free software and the cheapest to run. It’s also the most fiddly to set up.

A middle ground: tunnel only your work laptop. TVs and phones stay on ordinary failover.

The gap most setups miss: power

In Wexford, a power cut is the likeliest long outage. Fibre faults are rarer.

The fibre box, Starlink and the router all need mains power. With no battery, three links still leave you offline.

Device	Typical draw
Starlink dish + router	~50–100 W
UCG-Fiber	~15–30 W
5G Max (PoE)	~10–15 W
Fibre ONT + one access point	~15–20 W
Whole stack	≈ 100–160 W

Best: a 1 kWh LiFePO4 power station with UPS mode. It lasts roughly 6–8 hours and costs €500–800.
Check the switchover time: it should be 30 ms or less.
Minimum: a 1500 VA UPS (~€200–300). It covers short blips of 30–60 minutes.
What to plug in: fibre box, gateway, PoE injector, Starlink and one access point.

Choosing the 5G SIM

SIM	Network	Price	Data
48	Three	€12.99 / mo	Unlimited 5G
GoMo	eir	€14.99 / mo	5G, 120 GB fair use
Three All You Can Eat	Three	€30–35 / mo	Unlimited 5G
Clear Mobile	—	€12.99 / mo	Capped at 5 Mbps. Avoid.

Choose by signal, not price. Test each SIM in a 5G phone where the modem will go.
Check ComReg’s coverage map first. The mast you can reach matters more than €2.
Read the router-use terms. Some SIM-only plans limit tethering.
Mast diversity: a 48 SIM plus a GoMo SIM covers one mast failing. That’s about €28 a month.

Setup and testing checklist

Fibre details: ask your ISP for the VLAN or PPPoE settings. Ask whether their router carries your phone line.
If it carries the phone: keep their router and plug it into WAN 1. Double NAT is fine.
Starlink: switch on bypass mode in the app. Connect its Ethernet to WAN 2.
5G Max: adopt it as WAN 3. Set a monthly data cap per SIM.
Priorities: fibre primary, Starlink failover, 5G failover last.
Health checks: ping two outside targets, such as 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8. Never rely on link state alone.
Why: the fibre box keeps its link light on when the line is dead. That’s the classic reason failover never triggers.
Fail-back delay: wait 60–120 seconds before returning to fibre. This stops a flaky line from flapping.
DNS: use 1.1.1.1 or 9.9.9.9. ISP DNS often fails on the other links.
Remote access: Starlink and 5G sit behind CGNAT. Use Tailscale or a Cloudflare Tunnel, which work over every link.

Then prove it works: pull the plugs

Start a video call on a laptop, then work through these.

Unplug the fibre box. You should move to Starlink within seconds.
Power off Starlink too. You should move to 5G.
Plug both back in. Fibre should return after the delay.
Switch off the mains for two minutes. Everything should stay up on battery.

Repeat every few months. An untested backup is the one that fails.

Before you buy: three things I couldn’t verify

Your Starlink tier and price for your Eircode.
Current stock at the Ubiquiti EU store.
Whether your fibre router carries a phone line.