Significant Transactions Significant Transactions (Details) (USD $)	0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	9 Months Ended				3 Months Ended		3 Months Ended			6 Months Ended	9 Months Ended				3 Months Ended	0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended		9 Months Ended							6 Months Ended	9 Months Ended			9 Months Ended				3 Months Ended
	Jul. 10, 2013	Sep. 30, 2013	Jul. 10, 2013	Sep. 30, 2013 mHZ gHZ	Sep. 30, 2012 mHZ	Nov. 06, 2012	Nov. 06, 2012 Maximum [Member]	Jun. 30, 2013 Customer Relationships [Member]	May 17, 2013 FCC Licenses [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 SoftBank Merger [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 SoftBank Merger [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 SoftBank Merger [Member]	Jul. 10, 2013 SoftBank Merger [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 SoftBank Merger [Member]	Jul. 10, 2013 SoftBank Merger [Member]	Jul. 11, 2013 SoftBank Merger [Member]	Oct. 22, 2012 SoftBank Merger [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 SoftBank Merger [Member] Customer Relationships [Member]	Jul. 10, 2013 Clearwire Acquisition [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Clearwire Acquisition [Member]	Jul. 09, 2013 Clearwire Acquisition [Member]	Jul. 10, 2013 Clearwire Acquisition [Member]	Jul. 10, 2013 Clearwire Acquisition [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Clearwire Acquisition [Member]	Dec. 17, 2012 Clearwire Acquisition [Member] draws	Jul. 09, 2013 Clearwire Acquisition [Member] Clearwire Corporation [Member]	Jul. 08, 2013 Clearwire Acquisition [Member] Clearwire Corporation [Member]	Feb. 26, 2013 Financing Agreement entered into in December 2012 [Member] Clearwire Acquisition [Member] draws	Jun. 30, 2013 Exchangeable notes [Member] Clearwire Acquisition [Member]	Jul. 10, 2013 Predecessor [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Predecessor [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Predecessor [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Predecessor [Member] Secured Equipment Credit Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Jul. 10, 2013 Predecessor [Member] Clearwire Acquisition [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Successor [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Successor [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Successor [Member] Secured Equipment Credit Facility [Member] Line of Credit [Member]	Sep. 30, 2013 Successor [Member] SoftBank Merger [Member]	Jul. 08, 2013 Non-controlling economic interest [Member] Clearwire Corporation [Member]	Jul. 08, 2013 Non-controlling economic interest [Member] Clearwire Acquisition [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Gigahertz (GHz) licenses utilized in the code division multiple access network				1.9
MHz licenses utilized in iDEN network				800
MHz Licenses Utilized In Integrated Digital Enhanced Network					900
Business Combination, Equity Interest in Acquiree, Remeasurement Gain excluded in Pro Forma Financial Results			$ 1,400,000,000
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired, Goodwill, and Liabilities Assumed, Contractual Receivables, Gross													3,400,000,000		3,400,000,000
Common Stock, Par or Stated Value Per Share																										$ 0						$ 2			$ 0.01	$ 0
Convertible Debt																	3,100,000,000
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage																	1.00%
Stock Issued During Period, Shares, Conversion of Convertible Securities																	590,476,190
Debt Instrument, Convertible, Conversion Price																	$ 5.25
Business Combination, Acquisition Related Costs	(19,000,000)	100,000,000	(53,000,000)	(100,000,000)							73,000,000	32,000,000		97,000,000	129,000,000				11,000,000	2,000,000		17,000,000	19,000,000											7,000,000
Payments to Acquire Businesses, Net of Cash Acquired													14,100,000,000								3,500,000,000									4,039,000,000	0				14,112,000,000
Cash Acquired from Acquisition													2,500,000,000								198,000,000
Cash consideration accrued for dissenting shares relating to stockholders who exercised their right to appraisal																								125,000,000
Business Acquisition, Percentage of Voting Interests Acquired													80.00%		80.00%
Noncontrolling Interest, Ownership Percentage by Noncontrolling Owners													22.00%		22.00%	20.00%
Business combination, cost of acquired entity, additional partial cash paid													1,900,000,000		1,900,000,000
Line of Credit Facility, Amount Outstanding																																	296,000,000				715,000,000
Business Acquisition, Cost Of Other Acquired Spectrum, Cash to Be Paid						480,000,000
Business Acquisition, Network Shutdown Costs to be paid by the Company							160,000,000
Business Acquisition, Maximum Network Shutdown Costs to be paid by the Company on an undiscounted basis						200,000,000
Exchangeable notes, related party																									800,000,000				240,000,000
Interest rate of exchange note, related party																				1.00%
Exchangeable Note, Conversion Price																									$ 1.50
Amount of individual draw of exchangeable note issued by investee																									80,000,000
Number of installments																									10
Number of draws investee elected to draw																												3
Fair value of indefinite lived intangible assets acquired in asset acquisition transaction									605,000,000
Finite-lived Intangible Assets Acquired								32,000,000										6,923,000,000			986,000,000
Investment Owned, Balance, Shares																											739,010,818,000,000
Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage																																							2.10%	50.10%
Contingent merger-related costs paid by, or incurred by on behalf of, the accounting acquirer										46,000,000
Business Combination, Recognized Identifiable Assets Acquired, Goodwill, and Liabilities Assumed, Contractual Receivables, Net													3,200,000,000		3,200,000,000
Business Combination Acquisition Related Costs excluded in Pro Forma Financial Results			169,000,000
Contingent merger related costs paid by, or incurred on behalf of, the accounting acquirer																																						$ 73,000,000