Segment Information (Segment Financial Information) (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2012		Mar. 31, 2011
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenues	$ 8,734,000,000		$ 8,313,000,000
Inter-segment revenues	0	[1]	0	[1]
Segment Operating Expenses	(7,521,000,000)		(6,799,000,000)
Segment Reporting Information Operating Income or Loss	1,213,000,000		1,514,000,000
Depreciation and Amortization	(1,666,000,000)		(1,255,000,000)
Other, net	198,000,000	[2]	0
Operating income (loss)	(255,000,000)		259,000,000
Interest Expense	(298,000,000)		(249,000,000)
Equity in losses of unconsolidated investments and other, net	(273,000,000)		(412,000,000)
Loss before income taxes	(826,000,000)		(402,000,000)
Segment Reporting Information, Capital Expenditures	783,000,000		644,000,000
Payment received for incremental costs or obligations incurred by the Company for Spectrum Hosting	236,000,000		0
Gain Loss from asset dispositions and exchanges	29,000,000		0
Net benefit resulting from favorable developments relating to access cost disputes associated with prior periods	17,000,000
Asset impairments	(84,000,000)		0
Wireless [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Segment Reporting Information, Revenue for Reportable Segment	7,950,000,000		7,413,000,000
Inter-segment revenues	0	[1]	0	[1]
Segment Operating Expenses	(6,898,000,000)		(6,130,000,000)
Segment Reporting Information Operating Income or Loss	1,052,000,000		1,283,000,000
Segment Reporting Information, Capital Expenditures	678,000,000		525,000,000
Wireline [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Segment Reporting Information, Revenue for Reportable Segment	781,000,000		898,000,000
Inter-segment revenues	217,000,000	[1]	222,000,000	[1]
Segment Operating Expenses	(837,000,000)		(892,000,000)
Segment Reporting Information Operating Income or Loss	161,000,000		228,000,000
Segment Reporting Information, Capital Expenditures	47,000,000		64,000,000
Corporate, Other And Eliminations [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Segment Reporting Information, Revenue for Reportable Segment	3,000,000		2,000,000
Inter-segment revenues	(217,000,000)	[1]	(222,000,000)	[1]
Segment Operating Expenses	214,000,000		223,000,000
Segment Reporting Information Operating Income or Loss	0		3,000,000
Equity in losses of unconsolidated investments and other, net	(273,000,000)		(412,000,000)
Segment Reporting Information, Capital Expenditures	58,000,000		55,000,000
Clearwire [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Asset impairments	$ (40,000,000)		$ (92,000,000)

[1] Inter-segment revenues consist primarily of wireline services provided to the Wireless segment for resale to or use by wireless subscribers.

[2] (2)Other, net for the three-month period ended March 31, 2012 consists of net operating income of $236 million associated with the termination of the spectrum hosting arrangement with LightSquared (see Note 10), a gain of $29 million on spectrum swap transactions, and a benefit of $17 million resulting from favorable developments relating to access cost disputes associated with prior periods, partially offset by asset impairments totaling $84 million.