A wireless receiver includes an input module, a channel module, an equalizer module, and a decoder module. The input module receives a message over a wireless communication channel. The message includes a plurality of training fields and first data. The first data includes user data perturbed by the channel. The channel module generates a first matrix indicative of an estimation of properties of the channel. The channel module, as each of the plurality of training fields of the message is being received, recursively computes parameters for equalization based on the plurality of training fields, the first matrix, and a vector indicative of a substream signal-to-noise ratio. The equalizer module generates equalizer coefficients based on the parameters for equalization and applies the equalizer coefficients to the first data of the message to generate compensated first data. The decoder module decodes the compensated first data to recover the user data.