Property, Plant And Equipment (Property, Plant And Equipment, Net) (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property, plant and equipment	$ 16,945,895us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentGross	$ 14,850,697us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentGross
Less: Accumulated depreciation	(8,379,847)	(7,594,935)
Property, plant and equipment, net	8,566,048us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentNet	7,255,762us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentNet
Land [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property, plant and equipment	147,044	126,483
Buildings and leasehold improvements [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property, plant and equipment	1,325,865	1,061,097
Estimated useful lives	41 years
General support [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property, plant and equipment	1,037,279	977,941
General support [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives	17 years
General support [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives	5 years
Central office/electronic circuit equipment [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property, plant and equipment	5,933,450	5,222,928
Central office/electronic circuit equipment [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives	11 years
Central office/electronic circuit equipment [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives	5 years
Poles [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property, plant and equipment	671,931	549,322
Estimated useful lives	49 years
Cable and wire [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property, plant and equipment	6,973,234	6,259,292
Cable and wire [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives	30 years
Cable and wire [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives	15 years
Conduit [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property, plant and equipment	509,418	359,974
Estimated useful lives	60 years
Other PPE [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property, plant and equipment	46,485	43,144
Other PPE [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives	30 years
Other PPE [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated useful lives	12 years
Construction Work In Progress [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Construction work in progress	$ 301,189	$ 250,516

Amount of accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization for physical assets used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 360

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (c)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6391035&loc=d3e2868-110229

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 210

-SubTopic 10

-Section S99

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.14)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher SEC

-Name Regulation S-X (SX)

-Number 210

-Section 02

-Paragraph 14

-Article 5

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AccumulatedDepreciationDepletionAndAmortizationPropertyPlantAndEquipment
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of structure or a modification to a structure under construction. Includes recently completed structures or modifications to structures that have not been placed into service.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ConstructionInProgressGross
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount before accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization of physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale. Examples include, but are not limited to, land, buildings, machinery and equipment, office equipment, and furniture and fixtures.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 360

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (b)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6391035&loc=d3e2868-110229

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 210

-SubTopic 10

-Section S99

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.13)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentGross
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount after accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization of physical assets used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include, but are not limited to, land, buildings, machinery and equipment, office equipment, and furniture and fixtures.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 360

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 1

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6391035&loc=d3e2868-110229

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 210

-SubTopic 10

-Section S99

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.13)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher SEC

-Name Regulation S-X (SX)

-Number 210

-Section 02

-Paragraph 13

-Subparagraph a

-Article 5

Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher SEC

-Name Regulation S-X (SX)

-Number 210

-Section 03

-Paragraph 8

-Article 7

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentNet
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Useful life of long lived, physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days. Examples include, but not limited to, land, buildings, machinery and equipment, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentUsefulLife
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentByTypeAxis=ftr_BuildingsAndLeaseholdImprovementsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentByTypeAxis=ftr_CableAndWireMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentByTypeAxis=ftr_CentralOfficeElectronicCircuitEquipmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentByTypeAxis=ftr_ConduitMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentByTypeAxis=ftr_GeneralSupportMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentByTypeAxis=ftr_PolesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentByTypeAxis=us-gaap_ConstructionInProgressMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentByTypeAxis=us-gaap_LandMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentByTypeAxis=us-gaap_OtherCapitalizedPropertyPlantAndEquipmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: