A communication device (alternatively, device) includes a processor configured to support communications with other communication device(s) and to generate and process signals for such communications. In some examples, the device includes a communication interface and a processor, among other possible circuitries, components, elements, etc. to support communications with other communication device(s) and to generate and process signals for such communications. For example, the device's processor receives one or more signals from a communication channel. The processor then processes the one or more signals to generate 2D DFE soft slicer outputs and to decode the one or more signals based on the 2D DFE soft slicer outputs to generate estimates of information encoded within the one or more signals. The processor may process the 2D DFE soft slicer outputs to generate 2D DFE hard decisions and then generates other estimates of the information encoded based on the 2D DFE hard decisions.