Houston Chronicle computing column.(Voice over Internet Protocol)

Byline: Dwight Silverman

Sep. 6--HEARING THE VOIP CALL, AND CONSIDERING A SWITCH: In the late 1990s, I remember being called to a small kiosk at a tech trade show and offered a test of something called Voice over Internet Protocol, which is a way-too-geeky way of saying "phone calls over the Net."

I got to make a call with what looked like a regular phone handset to my home. The volume was very weak, and there was a slight delay as I talked to my wife. It was like talking on a bad cell phone connection.

Thanks, I said, but I'll pass.

Fast forward to the new century, and VoIP, as it's called, is changing the telephone business. From big businesses to families, a growing number of people are letting the Internet do the calling. And that tinny, frustrating phone call I made is a thing of the past. Most of the time, anyway.

Net-based phone service is everywhere, with companies as big as AT&T offering it alongside smaller names you've likely never heard of. For home users, it usually…