The invention provides a method and apparatus for achieving timing synchronization during signal acquisition and for achieving frequency synchronization in a digital communication receiver after signal acquisition. The invention operates by performing multiple correlations of a received signal, each correlation performed over an symbol interval and correlating the received signal in the symbol interval with a sinusoid of an expected frequency. The correlations are combined to determine a peak and energy, and if the peak to energy ratio is above a threshold, the symbol timing and frequency offset is estimated.