Revision of Prior Period Amounts, (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011
Quantifying Misstatement in Current Year Financial Statements [Line Items]
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, and are reflected in the financial information herein.
Changes in assets and liabilities from operations
Accounts payable - trade	$ (28,902)	$ 41,733
Other assets and liabilities	(77,821)	(66,553)
Cash flows from operating activities	608,759	738,821
Cash flows from investing activities
Cash used for additions to property, plant and equipment	(611,431)	(462,327)
Cash flows from investing activities	(619,486)	(451,060)
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents	(14,576)	215,478
As Previously Reported
Changes in assets and liabilities from operations
Accounts payable - trade		79,031	[1]
Other assets and liabilities		(65,048)	[1]
Cash flows from operating activities		777,624	[1]
Cash flows from investing activities
Cash used for additions to property, plant and equipment		(506,082)	[1]
Cash flows from investing activities		(494,815)	[1]
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents		210,526	[1]
Adjustment
Changes in assets and liabilities from operations
Accounts payable - trade		(37,298)
Other assets and liabilities		(1,505)
Cash flows from operating activities		(38,803)
Cash flows from investing activities
Cash used for additions to property, plant and equipment		43,755
Cash flows from investing activities		43,755
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents		$ 4,952

[1] In Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2011, filed on November 9, 2011.