Long-Term Debt and Revolving Promissory Note (Details) (USD $)	9 Months Ended								0 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Sep. 30, 2013 Senior notes	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior notes	Sep. 30, 2013 Senior notes Minimum	Sep. 30, 2013 Senior notes Maximum	Sep. 30, 2013 Capital lease and other obligations	Dec. 31, 2012 Capital lease and other obligations	May 23, 2013 6.125% Notes due 2053 Qwest Corporation	Jun. 17, 2013 Floating rate notes due 2013 Qwest Corporation	Sep. 30, 2013 Revolving promissory note CenturyLink, Inc. affiliate
Long-term debt
Interest rate (as a percent)					6.125%	8.375%			6.125%
Unamortized premiums, net	$ 86,000,000	$ 127,000,000
Total long-term debt	7,582,000,000	7,625,000,000	7,411,000,000	7,386,000,000			85,000,000	112,000,000
Less current maturities	(42,000,000)	(804,000,000)
Long-term debt, excluding current maturities	7,540,000,000	6,821,000,000
Principal amount of notes issued									775,000,000
Principal amount of debt that was sold pursuant to an over-allotment option granted to the underwriters									25,000,000
Net proceeds from issuance of debt									752,000,000
Redemption price as a percentage of principal amount of notes plus accrued interest (as a percent)	100.00%
Principal amount of notes repaid										750,000,000
Maximum borrowing capacity											1,000,000,000.0
Amount outstanding											$ 741,000,000
Weighted average interest rate (as a percent)											6.783%