Acquisitions, Divestitures and Exchanges, exchanges (Details) (USD $)	6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Jun. 30, 2014 U.S. Cellular	Mar. 31, 2014 U.S. Cellular Spectrum exchange	Jun. 30, 2014 U.S. Cellular Spectrum exchange
Exchanges
Agreement date					Feb. 14, 2014
Asset exchange description					On February 14, 2014, U.S. Cellular completed an exchange whereby U.S. Cellular received one E block PCS spectrum license covering Milwaukee, WI in exchange for one D block PCS spectrum license covering Milwaukee, WI. The exchange of licenses provided U.S. Cellular with spectrum to meet anticipated future capacity and coverage requirements. No cash, customers, network assets, other assets or liabilities were included in the exchange. As a result of this transaction, TDS recognized a gain of $15.7 million, representing the difference between the $15.9 million fair value of the license surrendered, calculated using a market approach valuation method, and the $0.2 million carrying value of the license surrendered. This gain was recorded in (Gain) loss on license sales and exchanges in the Consolidated Statement of Operations in the first quarter of 2014.
(Gain) loss on license sales and exchanges	$ (91,446,000)		$ (91,446,000)	$ (15,700,000)
Fair value				15,900,000
Carrying value	$ 1,460,484,000	$ 1,423,779,000		$ 200,000
Asset exchange, valuation method					market approach valuation method