A method for processing a received, direct-sequence code-division multiple- access (DS-CDMA) baseband signal to recover information bits, including the steps of: A)receiving the DS-CDMA baseband signal which includes composite noise and transmitted symbols, each transmitted symbol including one or more modulated bits; B) forming a first set of modulated bit estimates based on the received signal; and C) performing a decoding operation using the first set of modulated bit estimates to produce extrinsic information associated with the modulated bits, the method characterized by the further steps of: D) for multiple delays of the received signal, performing a despreading operation using the received baseband signal to produce multiple despread values corresponding to a transmitted symbol; E) forming a second set of modulated bit estimates using the despread values and the extrinsic information; and F) performing decoding operations using the second set of modulated bit estimates to produce information bit estimates; wherein the step of forming a second set of modulated bit estimates includes forming from the extrinsic information an interference estimate associated with a transmitted symbol and removing the interference estimate to produce the second modulated bit estimates; the method further comprising the steps of: forming one set of combining weights; removing the interference estimate from the despread values to produce modified despread values; and combining the modified despread values using the combining weights for use in providing a symbol estimate associated with the transmitted symbol. A)receiving the DS-CDMA baseband signal which includes composite noise and transmitted symbols, each transmitted symbol including one or more modulated bits; B) forming a first set of modulated bit estimates based on the received signal; and C) performing a decoding operation using the first set of modulated bit estimates to produce extrinsic information associated with the modulated bits, the method characterized by the further steps of: D) for multiple delays of the received signal, performing a despreading operation using the received baseband signal to produce multiple despread values corresponding to a transmitted symbol; E) forming a second set of modulated bit estimates using the despread values and the extrinsic information; and F) performing decoding operations using the second set of modulated bit estimates to produce information bit estimates; wherein the step of forming a second set of modulated bit estimates includes forming from the extrinsic information an interference estimate associated with a transmitted symbol and removing the interference estimate to produce the second modulated bit estimates; the method further comprising the steps of: forming one set of combining weights; removing the interference estimate from the despread values to produce modified despread values; and combining the modified despread values using the combining weights for use in providing a symbol estimate associated with the transmitted symbol. forming one set of combining weights; removing the interference estimate from the despread values to produce modified despread values; and combining the modified despread values using the combining weights for use in providing a symbol estimate associated with the transmitted symbol.