A user equipment and method performs an adaptive channel estimation. The method performed at a user equipment includes receiving physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) information for a subframe from a network, the subframe including reference symbols at predetermined times therein. If the PDCCH information does not include a downlink grant for the user equipment, a measured value of a network metric experienced by the user equipment is determined and compared to a threshold criteria. A first set of the reference symbols is used for channel estimation when the threshold value is satisfied and a second set of the reference symbols is used for channel estimation when the threshold is not satisfied, the first set of references symbols is a subset of the second set of the reference symbols. In another embodiment, a previously determined channel estimation at a previous subframe is used for the subframe when the threshold is satisfied.