Channel estimation and/or equalization processing is performed in a wireless receiver in two stages. The first stage involves pre-filtering in the frequency domain to compact a grid-based representation of the net channel. The second stage involves implementing reduced-complexity time domain channel estimation and/or equalization. According to one embodiment, a received signal transmitted over a net channel is processed by pre-filtering the received signal in the frequency domain. The frequency domain pre-filtering compacts an N-tap effective grid-based representation of the net channel into a K-tap compacted grid-based representation of the net channel where K