Many residents in Thorhild County, Alta., have been without cellphone service for three weeks, after thieves downed a 106-metre Telus tower.

Businesses are scrambling, while families worry about their inability to reach each other or access help during an emergency.

Monique Janice Chartrand, who owns a roofing company, sends her children to stay with their father in the hamlet of Thorhild when she is working out of town.

"Just in case something ever happened — like if one of the kids fell down the…