A system and method for improving performance of a digital communication system using forward error correction and interleaving. In the system, the channel equalization values are iteratively refined by providing a feedback of the estimated signal to the channel equalizer. More specifically, the system determines at least one estimate associated with a decision of a received signal corresponding to a transmitted signal, modulates at least one estimate and determines the equalization factors dependent upon the received signal and the modulated estimate. The system further iteratively determines the at least one estimate for a known number of iterations. In one aspect the system further combines a current one of the decisions with prior ones of the decisions in a known manner in the iterative process.