Equipment Installment Plans (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2015	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2015	Sep. 30, 2014	Dec. 31, 2014
Equipment installment plan receivables
Equipment installment plan payment period			24 months
Guarantee liability	$ 91,300		$ 91,300		$ 57,500
Accounting Changes and Error Corrections
Equipment and product sales	236,031	$ 198,551	620,278	$ 478,484
Income before income taxes	107,722	$ (111,909)	$ 443,476	$ (119,355)
Adjustment
Accounting Changes and Error Corrections
Immaterial Error Correction			TDS recorded out-of-period adjustments during the nine months ended September 30, 2015 due to errors related to equipment installment plan transactions that were attributable to 2014.  TDS has determined that these adjustments were not material to the prior quarterly or annual periods, and also were not material to the current period or anticipated full year 2015 results.  These equipment installment plan adjustments had the impact of reducing Equipment and product sales revenues by $6.2 million and Income before income taxes by $5.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2015. These adjustments were made in the first six months of 2015.
Equipment and product sales			$ 6,200
Income before income taxes			5,800
Short-term
Equipment installment plan receivables
Unbilled equipment installment plan receivables, gross	245,218		245,218		127,400
Unbilled deferred interest	(18,504)		(18,504)		(16,365)
Unbilled allowance for credit losses	(9,326)		(9,326)		(3,686)
Unbilled equipment installment plan receivables, net	217,388		217,388		107,349
Long-term
Equipment installment plan receivables
Unbilled equipment installment plan receivables, gross	66,512		66,512		89,435
Unbilled deferred interest	(819)		(819)		(2,791)
Unbilled allowance for credit losses	(4,740)		(4,740)		(6,065)
Unbilled equipment installment plan receivables, net	$ 60,953		$ 60,953		$ 80,579