Investments In Debt And Equity Securities (Narrative) (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009
Long-term investments, carrying value	$ 71	$ 118
Long-term investments, par value	89	149
Value of investments purchased	190
Proceeds received from sale of investments	59
Pre-tax gain reclassified from AOCI into earnings	6	0	7
Debt securities less than one year	141
Debt securities one to five years	318
Debt securities six to 10 years	240
Debt securities thereafter	381
Windstream Corp [Member]
Fair value of investments		87
Debt And Equity Securities in Grantor Trusts [Member]
Fair value of investments	$ 32	$ 29

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This item represents the fair value of debt securities which are expected to mature after five years and through ten years from the balance sheet date and which are categorized neither as held-to-maturity nor trading securities.

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Investments in debt and equity securities which are categorized neither as held-to-maturity nor trading and which are intended to be sold or mature more than one year from the balance sheet date or operating cycle, if longer. Such securities are reported at fair value; unrealized gains (losses) related to Available-for-sale Securities are excluded from earnings and reported in a separate component of shareholders' equity (other comprehensive income), unless the Available-for-sale security is designated as a hedge or is determined to have had an other than temporary decline in fair value below its amortized cost basis. All or a portion of the unrealized holding gain (loss) of an Available-for-sale security that is designated as being hedged in a fair value hedge is recognized in earnings during the period of the hedge, as are other than temporary declines in fair value below the cost basis for investments in equity securities and debt securities that an entity intends to sell or it is more likely than not that it will be required to sell before the recovery of its amortized cost basis. Other than temporary declines in fair value below the cost basis for debt securities categorized as Available-for-sale that an entity does not intend to sell and for which it is not more likely than not that the entity will be required to sell before the recovery of its amortized cost basis are bifurcated into credit losses and losses related to all other factors. Other than temporary declines in fair value below cost basis related to credit losses are recognized in earnings, and losses related to all other factors are recognized in other comprehensive income.

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The effective portion of gain reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income into income on derivative instruments designated and qualifying as hedging instruments.

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This element represents the portion of the balance sheet assertion valued at fair value by the entity whether such amount is presented as a separate caption or as a parenthetical disclosure. Additionally, this element may be used in connection with the fair value disclosures required in the footnote disclosures to the financial statements. The element may be used in both the balance sheet and disclosure in the same submission. This item represents investment securities as of the balance sheet date which may include marketable securities, derivative financial instruments, and investments accounted for under the equity method.

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The total amount of investments that are intended to be held for an extended period of time (longer than one operating cycle).

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The cash inflow associated with the sale of debt and equity securities classified as available-for-sale securities.

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