A continuous redundancy check method and apparatus receives (110) at least one data bit of a block's payload, calculates (120) a partial redundancy check value using the at least one data bit, compares (130) the partial redundancy check value with a reference value, and stores (134, 138) in an index an indication of whether the calculated redundancy check value matched the reference value. Meanwhile, the at least one data bit is also stored (140) in a data memory. As additional data bits of the payload are received, cumulative partial redundancy check values are calculated and compared to the reference value. When the complete payload has been stored (140), the index is analyzed (160, 165) to determine if a block error has been detected by the redundancy check functions. This continuous redundancy check method and apparatus allows a receiver to quickly determine whether a block error has occurred, especially when there may be padding (or dummy) bits in the block's payload.