Revision of Prior Period Amounts, (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2012	Mar. 31, 2011
Revision of prior period disclosures, reason for revision	In preparing its Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for the year ended December 31, 2011, U.S. Cellular discovered certain errors related to the classification of outstanding checks with the right of offset and the classification of Accounts payable-trade for Additions to property, plant and equipment. These errors resulted in the misstatement of Cash and cash equivalents and Accounts payable-trade as of December 31, 2010 and each quarterly period in 2011, and the misstatement of Cash flows from operating activities and Cash flows from investing activities for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and each of the quarterly periods in 2011 and 2010. In accordance with SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin Nos. 99 and 108 ("SAB 99" and "SAB 108"), U.S. Cellular evaluated these errors and determined that they were immaterial to each of the reporting periods affected and, therefore, amendment of previously filed reports was not required. However, in order to provide consistency in the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows and as permitted by SAB 108, revisions for these immaterial amounts to previously reported amounts were reflected in the financial information as of and for the periods ended December 31, 2011, are reflected in the financial information herein and will be reflected in future filings containing such financial information. In preparing its financial statements for the nine months ended September 30, 2011, U.S. Cellular discovered certain errors related to accounting for asset retirement obligations and asset retirement costs. These errors resulted in the overstatement of Total operating expenses, Property, plant and equipment, net and Other deferred liabilities and credits in the first and second quarter 2011 interim financial statements and in the 2010, 2009 and 2008 annual periods reported in the Company’s December 31, 2010 financial statements. The December 31, 2007 Retained earnings balance presented in the December 31, 2010 annual financial statements also was overstated as a result of these errors. In accordance with SAB 99 and SAB 108, U.S. Cellular evaluated these errors and determined that they were immaterial to each of the reporting periods affected and, therefore, amendments of previously filed reports were not required. However, if the adjustments to correct the cumulative errors had been recorded in the third quarter 2011, U.S. Cellular believes that the impact would have been significant to the third quarter results and would have impacted comparisons to prior periods. As permitted by SAB 108, revisions for these immaterial amounts to previously reported annual and quarterly results were reflected in the financial information as of and for the periods ended September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2011, are reflected in the financial information herein and will be reflected in future filings containing such financial information.
Consolidated Statement of Operations
Depreciation, amortization and accretion	$ 146,685	$ 143,340
Total operating expenses	1,006,919	998,344
Operating income	85,202	58,748
Income before income taxes	94,650	65,177
Income tax expense	25,638	24,747
Net income	69,012	40,430
Net income attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders	62,492	35,161
Basic earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders	$ 0.74	$ 0.41
Diluted earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders	$ 0.73	$ 0.41
Cash flows from operating activities
Net income	69,012	40,430
Depreciation, amortization and accretion	146,685	143,340
Changes in assets and liabilities from operations
Accounts payable - trade	(17,689)	53,713
Accrued taxes	79,765	11,829
Other assets and liabilities	(80,107)	(70,669)
Cash flows from operating activities	256,967	257,708
Cash flows from investing activities
Cash used for additions to property, plant and equipment	(209,160)	(121,041)
Cash flows from investing activities	(170,174)	(83,841)
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents	86,923	157,646
As Previously Reported
Consolidated Statement of Operations
Depreciation, amortization and accretion		145,045	[1]
Total operating expenses		1,000,049	[1]
Operating income		57,043	[1]
Income before income taxes		63,472	[1]
Income tax expense		24,092	[1]
Net income		39,380	[1]
Net income attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders		34,111	[1]
Basic earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders		$ 0.40	[1]
Diluted earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders		$ 0.40	[1]
Cash flows from operating activities
Net income		39,380	[1]
Depreciation, amortization and accretion		145,045	[1]
Changes in assets and liabilities from operations
Accounts payable - trade		(2,244)	[1]
Accrued taxes		11,174	[1]
Other assets and liabilities		(70,598)	[1]
Cash flows from operating activities		201,822	[1]
Cash flows from investing activities
Cash used for additions to property, plant and equipment		(95,933)	[1]
Cash flows from investing activities		(58,733)	[1]
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents		126,868	[1]
Adjustment
Consolidated Statement of Operations
Depreciation, amortization and accretion		(1,705)
Total operating expenses		(1,705)
Operating income		1,705
Income before income taxes		1,705
Income tax expense		655
Net income		1,050
Net income attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders		1,050
Basic earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders		$ 0.01
Diluted earnings per share attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders		$ 0.01
Cash flows from operating activities
Net income		1,050
Depreciation, amortization and accretion		(1,705)
Changes in assets and liabilities from operations
Accounts payable - trade		55,957
Accrued taxes		655
Other assets and liabilities		(71)
Cash flows from operating activities		55,886
Cash flows from investing activities
Cash used for additions to property, plant and equipment		(25,108)
Cash flows from investing activities		(25,108)
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents		$ 30,778

[1] In Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2011, filed on May 6, 2011.