Code-division multiple-access is a promising technique for communication systems. Many demodulation schemes have been proposed which take account of inherent multiple-access interference. In this paper, linear interference suppression as proposed by for example Madhow and Honig (194), is compared with conventional demodulation based on power-bandwidth plane. This approach is much more general than the comparison of error rates for specific scenarios as used previously. In case of interference suppression, the spectral efficiency is calculated by a combination of analysis and simulation. The coding and modulation scheme used is characterized within the power-bandwidth plane for a single-cell scenario as well as for a cellular system. In the latter case, some statements which are valid for the single-cell scenario have to be revised.