A method includes the steps of receiving a signal indicative of data bits, and performing per survivor processing-iterative timing recovery (PSP-ITR) on the received signal to generate probabilities of the data bits. To perform PSP-ITR on the received signal, the signal can be processed using a per survivor processing-soft decision algorithm (PSP-SDA) which jointly performs timing recovery and equalization in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. The soft decision algorithm (SDA) can be, for example, a Bahl, Cocke, Jelinek, and Raviv (BCJR) algorithm or a Soft Output Viterbi Algorithm (SOVA) modified in accordance with the concepts of the present invention such that it is configured to implement per survivor processing (PSP) to jointly perform timing recovery and equalization.