Methods and apparatus for frequency offset estimation and correction prior to preamble detection of DSSS signals. An integrated circuit is disclosed including a receiver circuit having an input coupled to receive a DSSS signal, the receiver circuit configured to sample the DSSS signal and to output a sequence of digital samples; carrier frequency offset estimation logic configured to perform a carrier frequency offset estimation on the digital samples; carrier frequency correction logic configured to correct the carrier frequency of the sequence of digital samples using the carrier frequency offset estimation and to output a sequence of corrected digital samples; offset quadrature phase shift keying (O-QPSK) demodulation logic configured to perform demodulation on the corrected digital samples and further configured to output symbols corresponding to the corrected digital samples; and preamble identification configured to identify and detect a preamble sequence in the symbols. Additional methods and apparatus are disclosed.