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		3 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2013 segment	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2013 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2013 Customer relationships	Dec. 31, 2012 Customer relationships	Dec. 31, 2013 Customer relationships Weighted Average	Dec. 31, 2013 Capitalized software	Dec. 31, 2012 Capitalized software	Dec. 31, 2013 Capitalized software Weighted Average	Dec. 31, 2013 Capitalized software Maximum	Mar. 31, 2011 Predecessor	Apr. 02, 2011 QCII Acquisition of QCII, amounts attributable to Qwest CenturyLink, Inc.
Customer relationships and other intangible assets subject to amortization
Goodwill		$ 9,354	$ 9,354										$ 9,354
Weighted Average of Remaining Lives					10 years		7 years 3 months 18 days			3 years	7 years
Customer relationships, less accumulated amortization of $2,012 and $1,320					3,687	4,379		1,008	1,212
Accumulated amortization					2,012	1,302		994	704
Gross carrying amounts of goodwill, customer relationships and other intangible assets		17,055
Estimated amortization expense for intangible assets
2014		894
2015		821
2016		743
2017		667
2018		581
2019 and thereafter		989
Amortization expense for intangible assets	$ 952	$ 1,029	$ 1,115									$ 58
Number of reporting units (segment)		1
Weighted average cost of capital to calculate discount rate as of the measurement date (as a percent)		6.00%		9.50%
Weighted average cost of capital, after-tax cost of debt (as a percent)		3.40%
Weighted average cost of capital, cost of equity (as a percent)		8.30%