Goodwill, Customer Relationships and Other Intangible Assets (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended							9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended				9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 item	Sep. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012 item	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 CenturyLink Acquisition of Qwest	Apr. 02, 2011 CenturyLink Acquisition of Qwest	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 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Capitalized software Weighted average	Dec. 31, 2012 Trade name and patent	Dec. 31, 2011 Trade name and patent	Dec. 31, 2011 Trade name and patent Weighted average	Dec. 31, 2012 Trade name and patent Weighted average	Mar. 31, 2011 Predecessor	Dec. 31, 2010 Predecessor
Goodwill, Customer Relationships and Other Intangible Assets
Goodwill	$ 10,123				$ 10,123			$ 10,123	$ 10,123	$ 10,123
Gross carrying amounts of goodwill, customer relationships and other intangible assets	19,785								19,785
Goodwill, Customer Relationships and Other Intangible Assets
Estimated life														10 years		8 years 3 months 18 days			7 years	3 years 1 month 6 days	4 years		5 years 9 months 18 days	2 years 3 months 18 days
Customer relationships, net	5,822				6,788			6,788	5,822	6,788				5,822	6,788
Total other intangible assets, net	1,277				1,587			1,587	1,277	1,587							1,212	1,460			65	127
Accumulated amortization amount														1,736	770		704	354			123	61
Estimated future amortization expense for intangible assets
2013	1,248								1,248
2014	1,143								1,143
2015	1,025								1,025
2016	921								921
2017	824								824
2018 and thereafter	1,938								1,938
Measurement period									1 year
Reduction in income tax expense	(67)	(54)	(27)	(48)	1	(33)		(32)	(196)	(178)															(146)	(505)
Net income (loss)	111	83	37	77		32	(13)	19	308																211	(55)
Goodwill recognized on acquisition												10,123	10,123
Number of reportable units	1								1
Number of years considered as discrete projection period									9 years
Weighted average cost of capital as of the measurement date, used as a discount rate (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 for intangible assets								$ 1,185	$ 1,426																$ 58	$ 221