Yet here we are, with dozens of ways to send our voices and faces over the Web. Given the amount of money AT&T made for so long on long-distance calling, it's surprising how many modern companies are lining up to offer video calls to anywhere in the world for free by sending calls over the Internet, these services circumvent phone companies altogether. When used to its full potential, though, videoconferencing is a cheap and effective way to see and hear friends who live far away, join in with the family if you can't make it home for the holidays, or virtually kiss your kids goodnight when you're away on a business trip. Nearly every modern smartphone and laptop comes ready for video chatting, but that ubiquity can be tricky to navigate because features differ across software, and applications aren't necessarily compatible with each other and with all hardware.
The technology has come a long way since it popped up as a business tool in the 1990s and evolved into consumer software in the past decade. Ciaran Griffin/Getty Images Nothing can take the place of face-to-face conversation, but the combination of high-speed Internet, webcams, and smartphones makes modern video chatting a close substitute.