A method comprising the steps of: receiving a signal associated with a channel quality indicator based on a measured channel quality; demodulating the received signal; recovering soft-symbol metrics from the demodulated signal; detecting a multi-bit channel quality indicator word from the recovered soft symbol metrics; wherein the recovered soft symbol metrics associated with the received signal are converted to a plurality of metrics, each of the metrics are associated with a different channel quality word, and each bit of the channel quality indicator word is determined based on each of the metrics characterized in that the method further comprises: individually determining from the recovered soft symbol metrics each most likely transmitted channel quality indicator bit in the multi-bit channel quality indicator word and an associated reliability of each such bit; and deciding if the transmitted channel quality indicator word should be used for a determination based on the determined reliability of each channel quality indicator bit in combination with a significance of each such bit in the multi-bit channel quality indicator word, wherein the multi-bit channel quality indicator word is an n-bit word and the recovered soft symbol metrics associated with the received signal are converted to 2" metrics w 0, w 2,..., w 2 " -1, that are each associated with a different channel quality word, wherein each most likely transmitted channel quality indicator bit b i (i = 0 to n-1) of the channel quality indicator word is determined according to whether the likelihood ratio LR i equal to ∑ all k where b j = 0 e w k ∑ all k where b i = 1 e w k, is greater or less than one, and wherein the reliability of bit bi is determined by max ∑ all k where b k = 1 e w k ∑ all k where b k = 0 e w k ∑ all k where b k = 1 e w k + ∑ all k where b k = 0 e w k. receiving a signal associated with a channel quality indicator based on a measured channel quality; demodulating the received signal; recovering soft-symbol metrics from the demodulated signal; detecting a multi-bit channel quality indicator word from the recovered soft symbol metrics; wherein the recovered soft symbol metrics associated with the received signal are converted to a plurality of metrics, each of the metrics are associated with a different channel quality word, and each bit of the channel quality indicator word is determined based on each of the metrics characterized in that the method further comprises: individually determining from the recovered soft symbol metrics each most likely transmitted channel quality indicator bit in the multi-bit channel quality indicator word and an associated reliability of each such bit; and deciding if the transmitted channel quality indicator word should be used for a determination based on the determined reliability of each channel quality indicator bit in combination with a significance of each such bit in the multi-bit channel quality indicator word, individually determining from the recovered soft symbol metrics each most likely transmitted channel quality indicator bit in the multi-bit channel quality indicator word and an associated reliability of each such bit; and deciding if the transmitted channel quality indicator word should be used for a determination based on the determined reliability of each channel quality indicator bit in combination with a significance of each such bit in the multi-bit channel quality indicator word, wherein the multi-bit channel quality indicator word is an n-bit word and the recovered soft symbol metrics associated with the received signal are converted to 2" metrics w 0, w 2,..., w 2 " -1, that are each associated with a different channel quality word, wherein each most likely transmitted channel quality indicator bit b i (i = 0 to n-1) of the channel quality indicator word is determined according to whether the likelihood ratio LR i equal to ∑ all k where b j = 0 e w k ∑ all k where b i = 1 e w k, is greater or less than one, and wherein the reliability of bit bi is determined by max ∑ all k where b k = 1 e w k ∑ all k where b k = 0 e w k ∑ all k where b k = 1 e w k + ∑ all k where b k = 0 e w k.