<human>: This is small fries, but it's driving me up the wall right now.

Been with Carl for a year, he is just absolutely so amazingly wonderful, I feel loved and respected and understood by him and this is not an issue I would ever consider breaking up with him over because of how great other things are 

BUT BUT BUT

we don't live together and are both generally busy people, see each other all weekend, rarely during the week though. When were not together I want to still know about his life and feel connected to him. I am deaf in one ear and phone calls are generally difficult for me, but if I text him he will take HOURS to respond. Like 1.5 - 4 hours and sometimes he never responds and  I have to send him another text and he'll respond to that.

I have discussed this with him. He says he doesn't mean it, he'll try and pay more attention, he seems genuinely sorry that it hurts my feelings....and yet it persists.

I don't even text him that often. I'll maybe send him....6-10 texts in a 24 hour period, often just silly pictures (which I DONT expect him to respond to) or to ask about his day or tell him I love him ect.

My question is....well.....WHY!? 

He text his friends, I've seen him do it when I'm around, he'll volley texts back and forth to friends, although I'm aware it's the weekend so maybe a little different.

 Is this a red flag I'm ignoring? He always wants to see me and talk to me and make plans with me and tell me I'm great so it just seems out of character.

If this can't be fixed, how do I deal with it/how can we connect when we don't see each other?

Can you provide a brief rundown of the text in within 3 sentences?
<bot>: otherwise "perfect" boyfriend takes hours to text back, past bad relationships make me worry I'm ignoring a red flag....but maybe this is normal for him?