Long-Term Debt and Credit Facilities (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended			1 Months Ended			6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended						1 Months Ended	6 Months Ended										1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		1 Months Ended				6 Months Ended	1 Months Ended				1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended							1 Months Ended		6 Months Ended															1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended						6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011	Jul. 31, 2011 Senior notes	Jul. 31, 2012 7.5% Notes due 2023	Jun. 30, 2012 7.5% Notes due 2023	Jun. 30, 2012 Credit facility subsidiary	Apr. 05, 2012 Credit facility	Jun. 30, 2012 Credit facility LIBOR	Jun. 30, 2012 Credit facility Base Rate	Jun. 30, 2012 Credit facility Minimum LIBOR	Jun. 30, 2012 Credit facility Minimum Base Rate	Jun. 30, 2012 Credit facility Maximum LIBOR	Jun. 30, 2012 Credit facility Maximum Base Rate	Apr. 30, 2012 Term loan subsidiary installment	Jun. 30, 2012 Term loan LIBOR	Jun. 30, 2012 Term loan Base Rate	Jun. 30, 2012 Term loan Minimum LIBOR	Jun. 30, 2012 Term loan Minimum Base Rate	Jun. 30, 2012 Term loan Maximum LIBOR	Jun. 30, 2012 Term loan Maximum Base Rate	Jun. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Senior notes	Dec. 31, 2011 CenturyLink, Inc. Senior notes	Jun. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Senior notes Minimum	Jun. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Senior notes Maximum	Mar. 31, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. 7.65% Senior Notes due 2042	Mar. 31, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. 7.65% Senior Notes due 2042	Mar. 12, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. 7.65% Senior Notes due 2042	Mar. 31, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. 5.8% Senior Notes due 2022	Mar. 12, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. 5.8% Senior Notes due 2022	Jun. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Credit facility	Dec. 31, 2011 CenturyLink, Inc. Credit facility	Jun. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Term loan	May 31, 2012 QCII 7.5% Notes due 2014	Mar. 31, 2012 QCII 7.5% Notes due 2014	May 17, 2012 QCII 7.5% Notes due 2014	Mar. 02, 2012 QCII 7.5% Notes due 2014	Apr. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.625% Notes due 2015	Apr. 18, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.625% Notes due 2015	Apr. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation 8.375% Notes Due 2016	Apr. 18, 2012 Qwest Corporation 8.375% Notes Due 2016	Jun. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation Senior Notes	Dec. 31, 2011 Qwest Corporation Senior Notes	Jun. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation Senior Notes Minimum	Jun. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation Senior Notes Maximum	Jun. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation Notes Bearing Floating Interest Rate Due 2013	Jun. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.0% Notes due 2052	Apr. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.0% Notes due 2052	Jun. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.0% Notes due 2052	Jun. 25, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.0% Notes due 2052	Apr. 02, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.0% Notes due 2052	Jun. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation Senior notes	Dec. 31, 2011 Embarq Corporation Senior notes	Jun. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation Senior notes Minimum	Jun. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation Senior notes Maximum	Jun. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation First mortgage notes	Dec. 31, 2011 Embarq Corporation First mortgage notes	Jun. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation First mortgage notes Minimum	Jun. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation First mortgage notes Maximum	Jun. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation Other debt	Dec. 31, 2011 Embarq Corporation Other debt	Jun. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation Other debt Minimum	Jun. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation Other debt Maximum	Apr. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation 6.738% Notes due 2013	Apr. 22, 2012 Embarq Corporation 6.738% Notes due 2013	Apr. 02, 2012 Embarq Corporation 6.738% Notes due 2013	Apr. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation 7.082% Notes due 2016	Apr. 02, 2012 Embarq Corporation 7.082% Notes due 2016	Jun. 30, 2012 Other subsidiaries First mortgage notes	Dec. 31, 2011 Other subsidiaries First mortgage notes	Jun. 30, 2012 Other subsidiaries First mortgage notes Minimum	Jun. 30, 2012 Other subsidiaries First mortgage notes Maximum	Jun. 30, 2012 Amendment and restatement of credit agreement Credit facility lender	Apr. 06, 2012 Amendment and restatement of credit agreement Credit facility	Jun. 30, 2012 Amendment and restatement of credit agreement Credit facility Minimum	Jun. 30, 2012 Amendment and restatement of credit agreement Credit facility Maximum	Apr. 06, 2012 Amendment and restatement of credit agreement Letters of credit	Jun. 30, 2012 Amendment and restatement of credit agreement CenturyLink, Inc. Credit facility
Long-term Debt and Credit Facilities
Capital lease and other obligations	$ 790,000,000		$ 790,000,000		$ 712,000,000
Unamortized premiums, discounts and other, net	90,000,000		90,000,000		269,000,000
Total long-term debt	21,585,000,000		21,585,000,000		21,836,000,000																			6,568,000,000	4,518,000,000								250,000,000	277,000,000	435,000,000									10,201,000,000	11,460,000,000			750,000,000						2,669,000,000	4,013,000,000			322,000,000	322,000,000			200,000,000	200,000,000								60,000,000	65,000,000
Less current maturities	(1,903,000,000)		(1,903,000,000)		(480,000,000)
Long-term debt, excluding current maturities	19,682,000,000		19,682,000,000		21,356,000,000
Interest rate, stated percentage								7.50%																		5.00%	7.875%			7.65%		5.80%			2.25%			7.50%	7.50%		7.625%		8.375%			6.50%	8.375%					7.00%	7.00%			7.082%	7.995%			6.875%	8.77%			6.75%	9.00%		6.738%	6.738%		7.082%			2.00%	10.00%
Interest rate (as a percent)																																																																																2.00%
Interest rate as of remeasurement date (as a percent)																																																3.718%
Principal amount of notes issued						2,000,000,000											440,000,000												650,000,000		1,400,000,000																			525,000,000
Repayments of notes																																				500,000,000	800,000,000																													200,000,000
Aggregate principal amount of debt																																									400,000,000		811,000,000									400,000,000																528,000,000		2,000,000,000
Discounts and expenses write-off																																																	387,000,000
Net proceeds from issuance of debt																												644,000,000			1,389,000,000																			508,000,000
Principal amount of notes for which tender offers are received and accepted							484,000,000																																	308,000,000		575,000,000																								328,000,000			816,000,000
Percentage of principal amount of notes for which tender offer was received and accepted																																								77.00%		71.00%																								62.00%			41.00%
Amount for which cash tender offer is received and accepted			3,630,000,000	857,000,000																																				369,000,000		722,000,000																								360,000,000			944,000,000
Net loss on early retirement of debt	202,000,000	1,000,000	194,000,000	1,000,000																																				46,000,000																													144,000,000
Maximum borrowing capacity under the credit agreement before amendment										1,700,000,000
Maximum borrowing capacity																																																																												2,000,000,000			400,000,000
Number of lenders																																																																											18
Lender commitment																																																																													2,500,000	177,000,000
Interest rate margin (as a percent)													1.25%	0.25%	2.25%	1.25%				1.50%	0.50%	2.50%	1.50%
Number of wholly-owned subsidiaries as guarantors for the Credit Facility									2								2
Number of consecutive quarterly installments repayment																	29
Repayment amount of quarterly installment																	$ 5,500,000
Variable rate basis in which principal and interest payments are discounted in determining redemption price											LIBOR	base rate						LIBOR	base rate																LIBOR
Percentage of principal amount at which the notes may be redeemed on or before April 1, 2017																																																			100.00%