A method of generating normalized bit log-likelihood ratio (LLR) values. A signal is received in a frequency band after transmission over a media, wherein the signal includes at least one complex data symbol having a plurality of information bits, and the complex data symbol is transmitted on at least one frequency channel. Initial LLR values are calculated for each of the plurality of information bits based on bit-to-symbol mapping of modulation and noise variance information from the complex data symbol. An average signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the frequency channel is calculated. Each initial LLR value is normalized by dividing by the average SNR to generate a plurality of normalized LLR values. The normalized LLR values may be quantized to provide a finite-bit representation.