A method for extracting a random access channel, RACH, preamble from a signal received in a base station from a user device, in a Long Term Evolution, LTE, system, wherein prior to executing the method the base station removes an initial cyclic prefix, symbol CP, portion from the signal, and performs a 1⁄2 subcarrier frequency shift, the method comprising: for a predetermined number of successive symbols of the signal (S405, S472, S474) after the symbol CP portion has been removed: performing a Fast Fourier Transformation, FFT, of a symbol, generating, from the FFT of the symbol, a baseband signal corresponding to a RACH frequency band all other non-RACH frequency bins having been set to zero, performing an inverse FFT on the baseband signal to yield a time domain signal, adjusting a phase of the time domain signal to compensate for group delays due to symbol CP gaps occurring during the generating, wherein a phase adjustment is determined individually for each symbol, padding zeros at a beginning of the phase-adjusted time domain signal to account for the symbol CP portion that was removed, down-sampling the phase-adjusted time domain signal, and storing the down-sampled signal to form a time sequence by concatenation; selecting the RACH preamble from the stored sequence; and performing a FFT on the RACH preamble using at least 1024 points, wherein the FFT of the RACH preamble is further used for identifying and synchronizing between the user device with the base station. for a predetermined number of successive symbols of the signal (S405, S472, S474) after the symbol CP portion has been removed: performing a Fast Fourier Transformation, FFT, of a symbol, generating, from the FFT of the symbol, a baseband signal corresponding to a RACH frequency band all other non-RACH frequency bins having been set to zero, performing an inverse FFT on the baseband signal to yield a time domain signal, adjusting a phase of the time domain signal to compensate for group delays due to symbol CP gaps occurring during the generating, wherein a phase adjustment is determined individually for each symbol, padding zeros at a beginning of the phase-adjusted time domain signal to account for the symbol CP portion that was removed, down-sampling the phase-adjusted time domain signal, and storing the down-sampled signal to form a time sequence by concatenation; performing a Fast Fourier Transformation, FFT, of a symbol, generating, from the FFT of the symbol, a baseband signal corresponding to a RACH frequency band all other non-RACH frequency bins having been set to zero, performing an inverse FFT on the baseband signal to yield a time domain signal, adjusting a phase of the time domain signal to compensate for group delays due to symbol CP gaps occurring during the generating, wherein a phase adjustment is determined individually for each symbol, padding zeros at a beginning of the phase-adjusted time domain signal to account for the symbol CP portion that was removed, down-sampling the phase-adjusted time domain signal, and storing the down-sampled signal to form a time sequence by concatenation; selecting the RACH preamble from the stored sequence; and performing a FFT on the RACH preamble using at least 1024 points, wherein the FFT of the RACH preamble is further used for identifying and synchronizing between the user device with the base station.