 (MRC) is optimal when the traffic consists of voice users only. However, when individual high data rate users are also present a fully adaptive two branch Minimum Mean Squared Estimate (MMSE) algorithm will provide improved performance by cancelling the interference due to these users. This cancella- tion results in a gain in the order of 1.5 dB. As mentioned earlier, in the DL we can add power gradually when necessary, thereby increasing coverage for higher rates. However, this may not be the case in the UL be- cause the MS has limited power. For example, a handset with an average power capac- ity of 21 dBm will have a maximum of 26 or 27 dBm power; the latter if we assume the MS gains 5-6 dBm at the BS due to the high reception sensitivity, antenna diversity and lower noise figures. High rate data terminals15 or data terminals in general will have 3 dB lower Eb/No. Thus, DL coverage for high rates will depend on the DL power am- plifier rating, the UL cell dimensioning, and most likely the adjacent cell loading as noted in the preceding section. 7.6.8 Capacity Analysis In WCDMA, capacity impacts apply to the DL and UL. In the 1st case it has to do with dense areas for high rates as well as subscriber number. In the 2nd case it has to do with rural areas in the context of coverage for high rates. On the other hand, due to the asymmetry of traffic flow, we expect more download information than upload. Hence, DL capacity appears more critical at least at the beginning of UMTS. Orthogonal codes make the DL more robust against intra-cell interference. However, inter-cell interference does still affect DL capacity, which depends on the load of the 15 Speech terminals have about 3 dB body loss. Deploying 3G Networks neighbouring cells and the propagation environment. For example, short orthogonal codes are more vulnerable to multi-path channels than single path channels; hence, in the microcell environment orthogonality gets preserved better that it does in the macro- cell environment. Consequently, loading despite t