A method for operating a user equipment, UE, configured for estimating channel quality, the method comprising: • determining that there is no transmission on a secondary dedicated physical control channel, DPCCH2, of a serving cell serving the UE, wherein the secondary DPCCH2 is an uplink channel from the UE to the serving cell, and the DPCCH2 is used to carry first transmit power control, TPC, symbols used for controlling a transmit power of a fractional dedicated physical channel, F-DPCH1, the F-DPCH1 being a downlink channel from the serving cell to the UE, wherein during a time period in which there is no transmission on the DPCCH2, the following steps are performed; ∘ receiving a signal on a F-DPCH NON-SERVING from a non-serving cell on a number of time slots, and receiving a signal from the serving cell on the F-DPCH1 on the number of time slots, the signal on the F-DPCH1 containing second TPC symbols, the second TPC symbols being used for controlling a transmit power of signals on a first dedicated physical control channel, DPCCH, between the UE and the serving cell, wherein the first DPCCH is an uplink channel, and the signal on the F-DPCH NON-SERVING contains third TPC symbols being used for controlling a transmit power of signals on a second DPCCH, the second DPCCH being an uplink channel between the UE and the non-serving cell, wherein the non-serving cell is a serving enhanced dedicated channel, E-DCH, cell when E-DCH decoupling is configured 610); ∘ estimating a quality of the F-DPCH NON-SERVING over the number of slots based on the signal received over the F-DPCH NON-SERVING by estimating a quality of TPC fields containing the third TPC symbols in the signal on the F-DPCH NON-SERVING and ignoring the second TPC symbols contained in the signal on F-DPCH1; and ∘ deriving downlink synchronization primitives of the F-DPCH1 in accordance with the quality of the F-DPCH NON-SERVING, wherein the downlink synchronization primitives comprise one of a CPHY-Sync-IND and a CPHY-Out-of-Sync-IND 615). • determining that there is no transmission on a secondary dedicated physical control channel, DPCCH2, of a serving cell serving the UE, wherein the secondary DPCCH2 is an uplink channel from the UE to the serving cell, and the DPCCH2 is used to carry first transmit power control, TPC, symbols used for controlling a transmit power of a fractional dedicated physical channel, F-DPCH1, the F-DPCH1 being a downlink channel from the serving cell to the UE, wherein during a time period in which there is no transmission on the DPCCH2, the following steps are performed; ∘ receiving a signal on a F-DPCH NON-SERVING from a non-serving cell on a number of time slots, and receiving a signal from the serving cell on the F-DPCH1 on the number of time slots, the signal on the F-DPCH1 containing second TPC symbols, the second TPC symbols being used for controlling a transmit power of signals on a first dedicated physical control channel, DPCCH, between the UE and the serving cell, wherein the first DPCCH is an uplink channel, and the signal on the F-DPCH NON-SERVING contains third TPC symbols being used for controlling a transmit power of signals on a second DPCCH, the second DPCCH being an uplink channel between the UE and the non-serving cell, wherein the non-serving cell is a serving enhanced dedicated channel, E-DCH, cell when E-DCH decoupling is configured 610); ∘ estimating a quality of the F-DPCH NON-SERVING over the number of slots based on the signal received over the F-DPCH NON-SERVING by estimating a quality of TPC fields containing the third TPC symbols in the signal on the F-DPCH NON-SERVING and ignoring the second TPC symbols contained in the signal on F-DPCH1; and ∘ deriving downlink synchronization primitives of the F-DPCH1 in accordance with the quality of the F-DPCH NON-SERVING, wherein the downlink synchronization primitives comprise one of a CPHY-Sync-IND and a CPHY-Out-of-Sync-IND 615). ∘ receiving a signal on a F-DPCH NON-SERVING from a non-serving cell on a number of time slots, and receiving a signal from the serving cell on the F-DPCH1 on the number of time slots, the signal on the F-DPCH1 containing second TPC symbols, the second TPC symbols being used for controlling a transmit power of signals on a first dedicated physical control channel, DPCCH, between the UE and the serving cell, wherein the first DPCCH is an uplink channel, and the signal on the F-DPCH NON-SERVING contains third TPC symbols being used for controlling a transmit power of signals on a second DPCCH, the second DPCCH being an uplink channel between the UE and the non-serving cell, wherein the non-serving cell is a serving enhanced dedicated channel, E-DCH, cell when E-DCH decoupling is configured 610); ∘ estimating a quality of the F-DPCH NON-SERVING over the number of slots based on the signal received over the F-DPCH NON-SERVING by estimating a quality of TPC fields containing the third TPC symbols in the signal on the F-DPCH NON-SERVING and ignoring the second TPC symbols contained in the signal on F-DPCH1; and ∘ deriving downlink synchronization primitives of the F-DPCH1 in accordance with the quality of the F-DPCH NON-SERVING, wherein the downlink synchronization primitives comprise one of a CPHY-Sync-IND and a CPHY-Out-of-Sync-IND 615).