Long-Term Debt and Credit Facilities (Details) (USD $)	9 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		9 Months Ended										1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		1 Months Ended						1 Months Ended		9 Months Ended						0 Months Ended			1 Months Ended				1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended						9 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended														1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended			9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011	Jul. 31, 2011 Senior notes	Sep. 30, 2012 Credit facility subsidiary	Apr. 06, 2012 Credit facility	Sep. 30, 2012 Credit facility LIBOR	Sep. 30, 2012 Credit facility Base Rate	Sep. 30, 2012 Credit facility Minimum LIBOR	Sep. 30, 2012 Credit facility Minimum Base Rate	Sep. 30, 2012 Credit facility Maximum LIBOR	Sep. 30, 2012 Credit facility Maximum Base Rate	Sep. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Senior notes	Dec. 31, 2011 CenturyLink, Inc. Senior notes	Sep. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Senior notes Minimum	Sep. 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	Sep. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Credit facility	Dec. 31, 2011 CenturyLink, Inc. Credit facility	Sep. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Credit facility Minimum	Sep. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Credit facility Maximum	Apr. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Term loan subsidiary installment	Sep. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Term loan	Sep. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Term loan LIBOR	Sep. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Term loan Base Rate	Sep. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Term loan Minimum LIBOR	Sep. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Term loan Minimum Base Rate	Sep. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Term loan Maximum LIBOR	Sep. 30, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Term loan Maximum Base Rate	Aug. 15, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. 7.875% Notes due 2011	Aug. 29, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Rural Utilities Service Debt	Aug. 29, 2012 CenturyLink, Inc. Rural Telephone Bank Debt	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	Oct. 31, 2012 QCII 8.00% Notes due 2015 Subsequent Events Debt Redeemed	Oct. 26, 2012 QCII 8.00% Notes due 2015 Subsequent Events Debt Redeemed	Apr. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.625% Notes due 2015	Apr. 18, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.625% Notes due 2015	Jul. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.50% Notes due 2023	Jul. 20, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.50% Notes due 2023	Apr. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation 8.375% Notes Due 2016	Apr. 18, 2012 Qwest Corporation 8.375% Notes Due 2016	Sep. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation Senior Notes	Dec. 31, 2011 Qwest Corporation Senior Notes	Sep. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation Senior Notes Minimum	Sep. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation Senior Notes Maximum	Sep. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation Notes Bearing Floating Interest Rate Due 2013	Apr. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.0% Notes due April 2052	Sep. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.0% Notes due April 2052	Apr. 02, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.0% Notes due April 2052	Jun. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.0% Notes due July 2052	Sep. 30, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.0% Notes due July 2052	Jun. 25, 2012 Qwest Corporation 7.0% Notes due July 2052	Sep. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation Senior notes	Dec. 31, 2011 Embarq Corporation Senior notes	Sep. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation Senior notes Minimum	Sep. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation Senior notes Maximum	Sep. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation First mortgage notes	Dec. 31, 2011 Embarq Corporation First mortgage notes	Sep. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation First mortgage notes Minimum	Sep. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation First mortgage notes Maximum	Sep. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation Other debt	Dec. 31, 2011 Embarq Corporation Other debt	Sep. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation Other debt Minimum	Sep. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation Other debt Maximum	Apr. 30, 2012 Embarq Corporation 6.738% Notes due 2013	Apr. 23, 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	Dec. 31, 2011 Other subsidiaries First mortgage notes	Sep. 30, 2012 Amendment and restatement of credit agreement Credit facility lender	Sep. 30, 2012 Amendment and restatement of credit agreement Credit facility Minimum	Sep. 30, 2012 Amendment and restatement of credit agreement Credit facility Maximum	Apr. 06, 2012 Amendment and restatement of credit agreement Letters of credit
Long-term Debt and Credit Facilities
Capital lease and other obligations	$ 767,000,000		$ 712,000,000
Unamortized premiums, discounts and other, net	71,000,000		269,000,000
Total long-term debt	20,706,000,000		21,836,000,000										6,250,000,000	4,518,000,000								280,000,000	277,000,000				429,000,000																						9,718,000,000	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								65,000,000
Less current maturities	(1,198,000,000)		(480,000,000)
Long-term debt, excluding current maturities	19,508,000,000		21,356,000,000
Outstanding amount of borrowings under the credit facility					28,000,000
Interest rate, stated percentage															5.00%	7.65%			7.65%		5.80%			1.97%	4.00%		2.22%												7.50%	7.50%		8.00%		7.625%		7.50%		8.375%			3.639%	8.375%				7.00%			7.00%			7.082%	7.995%			6.875%	8.77%			6.75%	9.00%		6.738%	6.738%		7.082%
Weighted average interest rate (as a percent)																						2.369%
Period to reset interest rate																																																					3 months
Interest rate as of remeasurement date (as a percent)																																																					3.639%
Principal amount of notes issued				2,000,000,000														650,000,000		1,400,000,000						440,000,000																												525,000,000
Repayments of notes																																		318,000,000	29,000,000	30,000,000	500,000,000	800,000,000							484,000,000																											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																																									550,000,000		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	4,529,000,000	1,442,000,000																																									369,000,000				722,000,000																									360,000,000			944,000,000
Net loss (gain) on early retirement of debt	194,000,000	1,000,000																																							(15,000,000)		46,000,000																																144,000,000
Maximum borrowing capacity under the credit agreement before amendment						1,700,000,000
Maximum borrowing capacity																																																																																	400,000,000
Number of lenders																																																																														18
Lender commitment																																																																															2,500,000	181,000,000
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
Percentage of principal amount at which the notes may be redeemed on or before April 1, 2017																																																							100.00%			100.00%