Acquisition of QCII by CenturyLink (Details) (Acquisition of QCII, amounts attributable to Qwest, CenturyLink, Inc., USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified		3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended	9 Months Ended					1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012 QCII	Sep. 30, 2011 QCII	Sep. 30, 2011 QCII	Sep. 30, 2012 QCII	Apr. 02, 2011 QCII		Apr. 02, 2011 QCII Customer relationships	Apr. 02, 2011 QCII Capitalized software	Apr. 30, 2011 QCII Retrospective adjustments Change in purchase price allocation item	Apr. 02, 2011 QCII Retrospective adjustments Change in purchase price allocation	Mar. 31, 2011 QCII Predecessor
Acquisition of QCII by CenturyLink
Enterprise value						$ 18,639
Fair value of debt						8,688
Assignment of the aggregate consideration
Cash, accounts receivable and other current assets						1,091	[1]
Property, plant and equipment						7,460					(36)
Intangible assets								5,699	1,702
Other noncurrent assets						209
Current liabilities, excluding current maturities of long-term debt						(2,446)
Current maturities of long-term debt						(2,378)
Long-term debt						(6,310)
Deferred credits and other liabilities						(4,445)					89
Number of lease valuations for which revisions were made										1
Goodwill	9,369					9,369					(84)
Aggregate consideration						9,951
Fair value assigned to accounts receivable						674
Accounts receivable gross contractual value						722
Best estimate of contractual cash flows that would not be collected						48
Acquisition related expenses		$ 9	$ 16	$ 139	$ 33							$ 2

[1] Includes estimated fair value of $674 million for accounts receivable, excluding affiliate accounts receivable, which had gross contractual value of $722 million on April 1, 2011. The $48 million difference between the gross contractual value and the estimated fair value assigned represents our best estimate as of April 1, 2011 of contractual cash flows that would not be collected.