It's not the same, though. Chat is asynchronous, so the recipient doesn't have to wait with their device as they would on hold. A standalone hello is actually

It's not the same, though. Chat is asynchronous, so the recipient doesn't have to wait with their device as they would on hold. A standalone hello is actually more efficient in time-sensitive situations. The sender needs to know if the recipient is actually available so that they don't waste effort typing a question that won't get answered in time.