Culligan water system

I'm having so many issues with trying to set up a permanent water softening system, especially with having to trench a drain line right outside my place because inside won't work... I decided to look into alternatives. I just got a phone quote from Culligan- the portable exchange tanks for water softeners don't seem that expensive at $55 a month on a 5 year contract. Unless they're not telling me something. Can anyone give me insight?