The present invention is related to a method and apparatus for estimating signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) based on dedicated physical channel (DPCH) pilot symbols in a wireless communication system. A receiver receives a DPCH transmission and a despreader despreads the received DPCH transmission. A selector selects pilot symbols in the despread DPCH transmission. A signal power estimator estimates signal power based on the pilot symbols, and a noise power estimator estimates noise power based on the received DPCH transmission. A SNR estimator estimates an SNR based on the signal power estimation and the noise power estimation. The noise power estimator may calculate the noise power estimation either based only on pilot symbols or based on both pilot symbols and non-pilot symbols. The DPCH transmission may be transmitted using more than one antenna for transmit diversity.