A method of Multi-slot Averaged Linear Interpolation (MALI) to estimate channel transfer characteristics at a receiver in a wireless network. The method and system are particularly well suited to use in wideband CDMA transmission systems. The steps of the method include calculating an instantaneous channel estimation from each slot in a transmitted signal, combining the instantaneous channel estimations for adjacent slot groups, and linearly interpolating between multi-slot averages to provide each symbol within a slot an accurate estimate of transfer characteristics for that symbol.