A method, system and computer program product for obtaining the reliability values for the hard decisions obtained by a Viterbi equalizer in a wireless communication system. A difference parameter is obtained for each Viterbi state at a stage while advancing the Viterbi trellis by the stage. The difference parameter for a Viterbi state at a stage is obtained by subtracting the path metric of the non-surviving path from the path metric of the surviving path for the Viterbi state at the stage. The difference parameter corresponding to the Viterbi state on the ML path at a stage is used as the reliability value for the hard decision obtained at L stages behind the stage, where L is the memory of the Viterbi trellis. A method for obtaining the accurate reliability values for the hard decisions corresponding to the last L stages of a truncated Viterbi trellis is also provided.