  Isotropic XX models of one-dimensional spin-1/2 chains are investigated with
the aim to elucidate the formal structure and the physical properties that
allow these systems to act as channels for long-distance, high-fidelity quantum
teleportation. We introduce two types of models: I) open, dimerized XX chains,
and II) open XX chains with small end bonds. For both models we obtain the
exact expressions for the end-to-end correlations and the scaling of the energy
gap with the length of the chain. We determine the end-to-end concurrence and
show that model I) supports true long-distance entanglement at zero
temperature, while model II) supports {\it ``quasi long-distance''}
entanglement that slowly falls off with the size of the chain. Due to the
different scalings of the gaps, respectively exponential for model I) and
algebraic in model II), we demonstrate that the latter allows for efficient
qubit teleportation with high fidelity in sufficiently long chains even at
moderately low temperatures.
