A receiver is configured for canceling intra-cell and inter-cell interference in coded, multiple-access, spread-spectrum transmissions that propagate through frequency-selective communication channels. The receiver employs iterative symbol-estimate weighting, subtractive cancellation with a stabilizing step-size, and mixed-decision symbol estimates. Receiver embodiments may be implemented explicitly in software or programmed hardware, or implicitly in standard Rake-based hardware either within the Rake (i.e., at the finger level) or outside the Rake (i.e., at the user or subchannel symbol level).