Reliability, in 5G and emerging 6G, is a continuing challenge due to signal fading, heavy interference, and phase noise, among others. The disclosed procedures show how to locate the most likely faulted message elements according to a deviant modulation, excessive amplitude or phase instability, and inconsistency between successive transmissions of the message. In addition, the receiver can rectify the message either by altering the faulted message elements to other modulation states, or by selectively merging two versions of the message according to signal quality. In either case, reliability is improved, range is extended, and time is saved.