[possiblydrunk]

It's like a protocol handshake, of course. Why transmit information until you've established that the connection works? Consider it a text modem :)

[quectophoton]

Remember to ask "are you still there?" before sending the answer to their problems, and wait for a response, to make sure the connection is still established. You don't want them to miss the answer to their problem!

[h05sz487b]

Yes, just send back “ack“.