Downlink diversity in a CDMA system is provided by employing Walsh codes in conjunction with M transmit antennas at a common base station serving K mobiles, where M may or may not be to equal to K. The present invention provides methods and apparatus for improving downlink diversity in a CDMA system. Each transmit antenna transmits a signal representing the result of the modulation of Walsh codes by data signals for each of the K mobiles, assuming there is data pertaining to a particular mobile. The assignment of Walsh codes is accomplished in accordance with a transmission matrix T. The transmission matrix maps the user data symbols onto the Walsh codes for each antenna and is preferably designed such that its columns are representative of the transmit antennas and orthogonal. Thus, at a given mobile, the mobile need only correlate with M different Walsh codes since each transmit signal received contains a component that is the result of M different Walsh codes having been modulated by a data signal associated with that particular mobile. The set of Walsh codes to select from includes 2.sup..left brkt-top.log.sup.2.sup.(K).right brkt-bot. Walsh codes. However, with respect to any given mobile, there is needed only as many different Walsh codes as there are transmit antennas serving the particular mobile. The results of the respective M correlations are combined and, with obtained channel estimates, the receiver estimates the particular data pertaining to that particular mobile so that it can be provided to the user. Also, the present invention provides for various ways to estimate the respective channels between the M transmit antennas and a mobile. It is to be appreciated that the downlink diversity techniques of the invention may be applied to the physical layer proposed in the IS95-C physical layer draft proposal.