He wasn't kidding .005 vs .0075 USD cents per message and reviving messages is free unlike Twilio. Twilio also charges $1.00 a month for the number itself. I will be giving your service a try in the future sir.
We'd love to help you out with this especially because we are newer to the US - really looking for customer experiences- email me please and we can setup a demo account: robert@messagebird.com