In Y. Linn [2002] a new method of estimating the E/sub S//N/sub 0/ ratio for M-PSK receivers was presented, which derives that estimate from the locked-state value of a new family of carrier lock detector structures. That method operates on the received symbols and generates an E/sub S//N/sub 0/ estimate at the output of the M-PSK demodulator, before error correction decoding or symbol decisions are made. The prevalent contemporary methods of E/sub S//N/sub 0/ estimation for M-PSK rely on measuring the pre- or post-decoder symbol error rate (SER) or bit error rate (BER) of the received signal, and estimating the E/sub S//N/sub 0/ from the relations between the SER or BER and the E/sub S//N/sub 0/ ratio. In this paper, a quantitative analysis shall be undertaken in which it will be shown that estimation of the E/sub S//N/sub 0/ using the method presented in Y. Linn [2002] not only requires significantly less hardware and/or software resources than estimation from the received signal's error rate, but is also irrespective of the data sequence and necessitates far fewer symbols in order to arrive at an equally accurate estimate.