A method, apparatus, and system determine a location of a frequency synchronization signal in a frame of data transmitted from a transmitter and received by a receiver in a communication system including at least one transmitter and at least one receiver. A peak value representing a detected frequency synchronization signal transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver is calculated. A frequency offset between a carrier frequency of the transmitter and a frequency reference of the receiver is estimated, along with a quality factor for the estimated frequency offset. A determination is made whether the peak value is greater than or equal to a peak threshold and whether the quality factor is less than or equal to a quality threshold. When both of the predetermined threshold conditions are met, the peak value, frequency offset, and quality factor are stored. When either of the threshold conditions is not met, the location of the frequency synchronization signal corresponds to the location of a stored maximum peak value and a stored minimum quality factor.