Acquisitions, Divestitures and Exchanges, acquisitions (Details) (USD $)											9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012		Sep. 30, 2011		Sep. 30, 2011 Businesses		Sep. 30, 2012 Licenses		Sep. 30, 2011 Licenses		Sep. 30, 2012 Licenses 700 MHz Agreement 1	Sep. 30, 2012 Licenses 700 MHz Agreement 2
Acquisitions, divestitures and exchanges
Licenses	$ 57,957,000		$ 19,998,000		$ 15,592,000		$ 57,957,000		$ 4,406,000		$ 34,000,000
Intangible assets subject to amortization			2,252,000		2,252,000
Net tangible assets (liabilities)			6,728,000		6,728,000
Purchase price	57,957,000	[1]	28,978,000	[1]	24,572,000	[1]	57,957,000	[1]	4,406,000	[1]
Date of acquisition agreement												2012-06-19
Date of acquisition											2012-08-15
License acquisition agreement amount												$ 57,700,000
Acquisition agreement description												On June 19, 2012, U.S. Cellular entered into an agreement to acquire seven 700 MHz licenses covering portions of Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin for $57.7 million. The acquisition requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) and, if approved, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Description of acquired entity											On August 15, 2012, U.S. Cellular acquired four 700 MHz licenses covering portions of Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma for $34.0 million.

[1] Cash amounts paid for acquisitions may differ from the purchase price due to cash acquired in the transactions and the timing of cash payments related to the respective transactions.