In the early 2000s, talking to someone abroad usually meant installing a program. Skype, MSN and similar messengers made voice calls and chat free between users, and for many people they replaced the telephone. The price was friction: both sides needed the same software, an account and often a compatible version.
Three changes that moved communication to the browser
- Faster, steadier internet. Broadband and mobile data made real-time voice and video practical anywhere.
- Browsers got real-time features. WebRTC, standardised in the 2010s, gave every major browser a built-in way to capture a microphone and camera and to connect directly to another browser. Read the basics in WebRTC explained.
- Phones became the default device. People wanted the same tool on a laptop, a tablet and a phone without installing something new on each.
What stayed the same
Plain SMS did not disappear. It remains the one channel that reaches almost any phone in the world without an app, which is why browser-to-phone texting still has a place. The same is true for calls to ordinary numbers: browser calling, such as the Globfone WebPhone, bridges the internet and the phone network.
What changed for users
- Start in seconds. A link replaces an installer.
- Any device. The same page works on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
- Direct connections. With peer-to-peer video and file sharing, data goes from one browser to another instead of through a company's server.
- Fewer silos. You can still reach people who use a different app, because the phone network is the common denominator.
Where it goes next
Richer messaging is arriving on the phone itself: RCS lets default messaging apps send high-quality photos, typing indicators and read receipts. We cover it in RCS, the successor to SMS. Whatever the technology, the pattern is the same: fewer steps between wanting to talk and talking.
Milestones in online communication
| Period | What changed |
|---|---|
| Late 1990s | Instant messengers make chat free between computers |
| 2000s | Voice and video over the internet become common, led by desktop apps |
| 2010s | Smartphones and WebRTC move calls into apps and the browser |
| 2020s | RCS, eSIM and 5G blur the line between phone network and internet |
What this means today
The best tool depends on who you want to reach: an app for people with the same app, the phone network for everyone else, and the browser when you have nothing installed. For a guided comparison read calls and texts without your carrier.
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Calls and Texts Without Your Carrier: Apps Versus the Browser
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