I gave up on Talk / Hangouts a few years ago, when I kept getting into a state with it where someone would send me messages fine but my replies would be delayed

I gave up on Talk / Hangouts a few years ago, when I kept getting into a state with it where someone would send me messages fine but my replies would be delayed for several hours. It was possibly the most frustrating computer-mediated interaction I've ever had - and I say that as a very cynical programmer! After a few weeks of it happening intermittently, I said to my handful of friends - "If you ever want to speak to me again, we have to find a different platform". Now we're on a combination of Telegram and Slack, and I'm happier. It's not as good as the world was in the AIM days, but, it gets the job done.