Voice over IP allows communication between two parties over the Internet using packet switching rather than traditional circuit switching over telephone networks. There are two main protocols for Voice over IP calls: SIP and H.323. SIP establishes, manages, and terminates multimedia sessions using text-based messages with a header and body. A simple SIP call involves three steps - establishing the call with an INVITE message, communicating using temporary ports, and terminating with a BYE message. H.323 also allows internet phones to connect to traditional phones through a gateway and uses several sub-protocols like H.245 and Q.931 to negotiate connections and media encoding.