Activity in Allowance for Credit Losses for Device Payment Plan Agreement Receivables (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Millions	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2017	Jun. 30, 2016
Financing Receivable, Allowance for Credit Losses [Line Items]
Balance at January 1, 2017	$ 688	$ 444
Bad debt expense	315	310
Write-offs	(288)	(210)
Allowance related to receivables sold		28
Other		6
Balance at June 30, 2017	$ 715	$ 578

A valuation allowance for financing receivables that are expected to be uncollectible.

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of direct write-downs of financing receivables charged against the allowance.

+ References

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The increase (decrease) during the reporting period in the amount owed to the reporting entity by counterparties in securitized loan transactions.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 28
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=98514028&loc=d3e3602-108585

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of expense related loan transactions, lease transactions, credit loss from transactions other than loan and lease transactions, and other loss based on assessment of uncollectability from the counterparty to reduce the account to their net realizable value.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 11B
-Subparagraph (c)(2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84173941&loc=SL6953423-111524

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 225
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-04.11)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6879574&loc=d3e536633-122882

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 28
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=98514028&loc=d3e3602-108585

+ Details

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Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Financing Receivable Allowance For Credit Losses Other

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	vz_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration