I think SIP does more things that are fun rather than only things that are useful. This matters all the time; Not just when there is an earthquake, etc. Spending and planning, not technology per se determines whether things work in an emergency. Besides, the future is long. What familiar now shouldn't define an indefinite future. A SIP phone from Cisco running 802.af wireline power over ethernet on a big UPS is going to work as well as a phone switch. Now, whether the fabric runs. How about Internet enabled low eath orbiting satelittes? (with sat to sat bandbasses). This plus battery operated laptops... sounds like there not much "earth" in this to go wrong. Just an example. I think the brew your own Codec will be the ticket to very unforseen things (cool/fun) with SIP. Hope so, anyway! Dan