| **Related Party Transaction**             | 9 Months Ended                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
|-------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
||
| **Related Party Transactions [Abstract]** |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| Related Party Transaction                 | Related Party TransactionsOn July 11, 2016, we repurchased 1,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock for $16.1 million from John W. Stanton and Theresa E Gillespie, husband and wife, who continue to be significant shareholders of our Class B common stock.We entered into a long-term capital lease agreement in 1991 with the wife of GCI’s President and CEO for property occupied by us.  The leased asset was capitalized in 1991 at the owner’s cost of $0.9 million and the related obligation was recorded.  The lease agreement was amended in April 2008 and our existing capital lease asset and liability increased by $1.3 million to record the extension of this capital lease.  The amended lease terminates on September 30, 2026.In January 2001 we entered into an aircraft operating lease agreement with a company owned by GCI’s President and CEO.  The lease was amended several times, most recently in May 2011.  The lease term of the aircraft may be terminated at any time by us upon 12 months written notice.  The monthly lease rate of the aircraft is $132,000.  In 2001, we paid a deposit of $1.5 million in connection with the lease.  The deposit will be repaid to us no later than six months after the agreement terminates.As disclosed in Note 5 of this Form 10-Q, we have an unsecured promissory note and stock appreciation rights with Searchlight.  Searchlight received the right to nominate one person for appointment or election as a member of our Board of Directors pursuant to a Securityholder Agreement dated as of December 4, 2014.  Searchlight became a related party on February 2, 2015 when we closed the Wireless Acquisition. Searchlight's nominee was appointed as a member of our Board of Directors on March 4, 2015.ACS was a related party for financial statement reporting purposes through the date of the Wireless Acquisition on February 2, 2015. Included in our related party disclosures were ACS' provision to us of local service lines and network capacity in locations where we do not have our own facilities, our provision to ACS of wholesale wireless services for their use of our network to sell services to their respective retail customers, and our receipt of ACS' high cost support from USF for its wireless customers. For the period January 1, 2015 to February 2, 2015, we paid ACS $6.2 million and received $8.1 million in payments from ACS. We also have long-term capacity exchange agreements with ACS for which no money is exchanged. |

| X                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - References
No definition available.
+ Details**Name:**us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionsAbstract**Namespace Prefix:**us-gaap_**Data Type:**xbrli:stringItemType**Balance Type:**na**Period Type:**duration |
| X                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Definition
The entire disclosure for related party transactions. Examples of related party transactions include transactions between (a) a parent company and its subsidiary; (b) subsidiaries of a common parent; (c) and entity and its principal owners; and (d) affiliates.
+ References
Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.4-08(k)) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26873400&loc=d3e23780-122690Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 850 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6457730&loc=d3e39603-107864Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 850 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 4 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6457730&loc=d3e39622-107864Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 850 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6457730&loc=d3e39549-107864Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 850 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 5 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6457730&loc=d3e39678-107864Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 850 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 6 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6457730&loc=d3e39691-107864
+ Details**Name:**us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionsDisclosureTextBlock**Namespace Prefix:**us-gaap_**Data Type:**nonnum:textBlockItemType**Balance Type:**na**Period Type:**duration |