The fun part though of those independent communicators is when they have minds of their own. :D I decided to use an old Insteon controller that I hadn't been using for anything for my Christmas lights, and it was really hard to figure out why it kept turning on and off by itself. For some inexplicable reason it was linked to my thermostat. :/

But in general, yes, it's awesome that my Insteon remotes work even if my home automation software on my PC crashed out, and that my thermostats and light switches all operate normally when the Internet is down.