Goodwill and Intangible Assets - Summary of Intangible Assets (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Goodwill [Line Items]
Gross Value	$ 18,653	$ 14,169
Accumulated Amortization	(11,386)	(9,086)
Net Value	7,267	5,083
Customer Relationships [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Gross Value	6,899	5,828
Accumulated Amortization	(3,208)	(2,627)
Net Value	3,691	3,201
Developed Technology [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Gross Value	6,444	5,720
Accumulated Amortization	(5,061)	(4,329)
Net Value	1,383	1,391
Intellectual Property [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Gross Value	2,340	2,340
Accumulated Amortization	(2,129)	(1,854)
Net Value	211	486
Supply Agreement [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Gross Value	1,400
Accumulated Amortization	(544)
Net Value	856
License [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Gross Value	500
Accumulated Amortization	(113)
Net Value	387
Patent [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Gross Value	500
Accumulated Amortization	(20)
Net Value	480
Trade Names [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Gross Value	370	270
Accumulated Amortization	(285)	(265)
Net Value	85	5
Non-compete [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Gross Value	200	11
Accumulated Amortization	(26)	$ (11)
Net Value	$ 174

Accumulated amount of amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66006027&loc=d3e16323-109275

+ Details

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

- Definition

Amount before amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

+ References

+ Details

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

- Definition

Amount after amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsNet
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
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

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

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_CustomerRelationshipsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_DevelopedTechnologyRightsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_IntellectualPropertyMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=adtn_SupplyAgreementMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_LicensingAgreementsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_PatentsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_TradeNamesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_NoncompeteAgreementsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: