Estimation of timing errors is disclosed that uses user equipment reference signals (UERSs). A UE models each channel in a user equipment reference signal (UERS) as a channel on an adjacent UERS tone multiplied by a phase ramping term. This phase ramping term is determined using an estimator on the modeled channels. The UE then determines the equivalent timing error by mapping the phase ramping terms into the estimated timing errors in the time domain. In coordinated multipoint (CoMP) systems, the UERS-based timing error may be used to identify an aligned common reference signal (CRS) associated with the network entity transmitting the data. With this determination, the UE may estimate a CRS-based timing error and either substitute the CRS-based timing error for the UERS-based timing error or calculate a further average timing error based on both the CRS-based and UERS-based timing errors.