Spread spectrum communications with selectable data transfer rates

1. Field of the Invention A spread spectrum communications system that is operable to provide user-selectable data transfer rates comprises a user station for generating an access request and a gateway server for receiving the access request. The gateway server includes a rate unit for comparing a requested rate to assigned rates, a selector for selecting an available user channel and an available signaling alphabet, and an allocation unit for assigning the carrier, user channel, and alphabet to the access request. One of several offered transfer rates is assigned to the available user channel. Each offered rate corresponds to a set of signaling alphabets with low cross-correlation for data transfer.