Goodwill, Customer Relationships and Other Intangible Assets (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012 item	Apr. 02, 2011 Acquisition of QCII, amounts attributable to Qwest CenturyLink, Inc.	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Customer relationships	Dec. 31, 2011 Customer relationships	Dec. 31, 2012 Customer relationships Weighted Average	Dec. 31, 2012 Capitalized software	Dec. 31, 2011 Capitalized software	Dec. 31, 2012 Capitalized software Weighted Average	Dec. 31, 2012 Capitalized software Maximum	Mar. 31, 2011 Predecessor	Dec. 31, 2010 Predecessor
Goodwill, Customer Relationships and Other Intangible Assets
Goodwill	$ 9,369	$ 9,369
Gross carrying amounts of goodwill, customer relationships and other intangible assets		16,984
Customer relationships and other intangible assets subject to amortization
Estimated life					10 years		8 years 3 months 18 days			3 years 1 month 6 days	7 years
Customer relationships, less accumulated amortization	5,101	4,379			4,379	5,101
Capitalized software, less accumulated amortization	1,460	1,212						1,460	1,212
Accumulated amortization					1,320	598		704	354
Estimated amortization expense for intangible assets
2013		988
2014		917
2015		827
2016		737
2017		652
2018 and thereafter		1,470
Goodwill recognized on acquisition			9,369
Number of reporting units		1
Number of years used to calculate discrete projection period		9 years
Weighted average cost of capital to calculate discount rate as of the measurement date (as a percent)		6.00%		9.50%
After-tax cost component of weighted average cost of capital, cost of debt (as a percent)		3.20%
Cost of debt component of weighted average cost of capital, cost of equity (as a percent)		8.40%
Amortization expense	$ 952	$ 1,114										$ 58	$ 221