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Acquisitions, Divestitures and Exchanges, divestitures (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	0 Months Ended	29 Months Ended	36 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2014	May 16, 2013	Jan. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014 number	Mar. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2015
Divestitures
(Increase) decrease in Operating Income	$ (250,313,000)us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss	$ (7,825,000)us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss
(Gain) loss on license sales and exchanges, net	(122,873,000)usm_GainLossOnLicenseSalesAndExchanges	(91,446,000)usm_GainLossOnLicenseSalesAndExchanges
Number of towers					595usm_NumberOfTowers
Divestiture Financial Impacts
Cash received from divestitures and exchanges	274,111,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromDivestitureOfBusinesses	103,042,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromDivestitureOfBusinesses
(Gain) loss on sale of business and other exit costs, net	(111,477,000)us-gaap_GainLossOnSaleOfBusiness	(6,900,000)us-gaap_GainLossOnSaleOfBusiness
Divestiture transaction
Divestitures
Business divestiture description	On May 16, 2013, pursuant to a Purchase and Sale Agreement, U.S. Cellular sold customers and certain PCS license spectrum to subsidiaries of Sprint Corp. fka Sprint Nextel Corporation (“Sprint”) in U.S. Cellular’s Chicago, central Illinois, St. Louis and certain Indiana/Michigan/Ohio markets (“Divestiture Markets”) in consideration for $480 million in cash. The Purchase and Sale Agreement also contemplated certain other agreements, together with the Purchase and Sale Agreement collectively referred to as the “Divestiture Transaction.” These agreements require Sprint to reimburse U.S. Cellular up to $200 million (the “Sprint Cost Reimbursement”) for certain network decommissioning costs, network site lease rent and termination costs, network access termination costs, and employee termination benefits for specified engineering employees.
Divestiture Financial Impacts
Cash received from divestitures and exchanges			480,000,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromDivestitureOfBusinesses / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_DivestitureTransactionMember
Contract termination costs		37,100,000us-gaap_BusinessExitCosts1 / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_DivestitureTransactionMember
(Gain) loss on sale of business and other exit costs, net	(4,400,000)us-gaap_GainLossOnSaleOfBusiness / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_DivestitureTransactionMember	(7,100,000)us-gaap_GainLossOnSaleOfBusiness / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_DivestitureTransactionMember
Tower sale
Divestitures
Business divestiture description	In December 2014, U.S. Cellular entered into an agreement with a third party to sell 595 towers and certain related contracts, assets, and liabilities for $159.0 million. This transaction was accomplished in two closings. The first closing occurred in December 2014 and included the sale of 236 towers, without tenants, for $10.0 million. On this same date, U.S. Cellular received $7.5 million in earnest money. At the time of the first closing, a $3.8 million gain was recorded. The second closing for the remaining 359 towers, primarily with tenants, took place in January 2015, at which time U.S. Cellular received $141.5 million in additional cash proceeds and recorded a gain of $107.7 million in (Gain) loss on sale of business and other exit costs, net.
Divestiture Financial Impacts
Cash received from divestitures and exchanges				159,000,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromDivestitureOfBusinesses / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_TowerSaleMember
Tower sale - first closing
Divestitures
Number of towers					236usm_NumberOfTowers / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_TowerSaleClose1Member
Divestiture Financial Impacts
Cash received from divestitures and exchanges					10,000,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromDivestitureOfBusinesses / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_TowerSaleClose1Member
(Gain) loss on sale of business and other exit costs, net					(3,800,000)us-gaap_GainLossOnSaleOfBusiness / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_TowerSaleClose1Member
Tower sale - second closing
Divestitures
Number of towers				359usm_NumberOfTowers / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_TowerSaleClose2Member
Divestiture Financial Impacts
Cash received from divestitures and exchanges				141,500,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromDivestitureOfBusinesses / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_TowerSaleClose2Member
(Gain) loss on sale of business and other exit costs, net				(107,700,000)us-gaap_GainLossOnSaleOfBusiness / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_TowerSaleClose2Member
Sprint Cost Reimbursement | Divestiture transaction
Divestiture Financial Impacts
Cash received from divestitures and exchanges		44,600,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromDivestitureOfBusinesses / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_DivestitureTransactionMember / us-gaap_RestructuringCostAndReserveAxis = usm_ReimbursementOfTransitionAndExitCostsMember
Sprint Cost Reimbursement | Divestiture transaction | Cash received from divestitures
Divestiture Financial Impacts
Cash received from divestitures and exchanges	15,700,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromDivestitureOfBusinesses / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_DivestitureTransactionMember / usm_CashFlowLocationAxis = usm_CashReceivedFromDivestituresMember / us-gaap_RestructuringCostAndReserveAxis = usm_ReimbursementOfTransitionAndExitCostsMember	11,300,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromDivestitureOfBusinesses / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_DivestitureTransactionMember / usm_CashFlowLocationAxis = usm_CashReceivedFromDivestituresMember / us-gaap_RestructuringCostAndReserveAxis = usm_ReimbursementOfTransitionAndExitCostsMember				97,400,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromDivestitureOfBusinesses / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_DivestitureTransactionMember / usm_CashFlowLocationAxis = usm_CashReceivedFromDivestituresMember / us-gaap_RestructuringCostAndReserveAxis = usm_ReimbursementOfTransitionAndExitCostsMember
Sprint Cost Reimbursement | Maximum | Expected event | Divestiture transaction
Divestiture Financial Impacts
Cash received from divestitures and exchanges							200,000,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromDivestitureOfBusinesses / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_DivestitureTransactionMember / us-gaap_RangeAxis = us-gaap_MaximumMember / us-gaap_RestructuringCostAndReserveAxis = usm_ReimbursementOfTransitionAndExitCostsMember / us-gaap_StatementScenarioAxis = us-gaap_ScenarioForecastMember
Earnest money received | Tower sale - first closing
Divestiture Financial Impacts
Cash received from divestitures and exchanges					$ 7,500,000us-gaap_ProceedsFromDivestitureOfBusinesses / usm_BusinessDivestitureAxis = usm_TowerSaleClose1Member / us-gaap_RestructuringCostAndReserveAxis = usm_EarnestMoneyReceivedMember

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