Abstract: A communication system having a plurality of forward channel communications and a plurality of corresponding reverse. channel communications from and to a plurality of mobile users. A plurality of collectors are distributed at macro- diverse locations for receiving reverse channel signals from the users which are processed to yield one or more sequences of data bits as a burst and colTesponding initial confidence metrics for each bit. The collectors forward these reverse channel signals including the data bits and corresponding processed confidence metrics to aggregators. The combining of multiple collector signals for the same user results in an output bit stream for the user with fewer bit errors. The system includes bandwidth control for minimizing backhaul bandwidth from colletor to aggregator while maximizing signal quality.