A compact triple-band planar antenna applied to UMTS, WiFi and WiMAX applications is proposed. The proposed antenna provides three wide frequency bands, which are 1744-2759 MHz, 3271-4126 MHz and 4718-5908 MHz, realized in a commercial FR4 printed-circuit board (PCB) with a permittivity of 4.4 and thickness of 0.6 mm. Both simulation and measurement are pretty matched and indicate that the proposed antenna achieves gains to he 3.5, 3.0, and 2.5 dBi at 2.4, 3.5, and 5.2 GHz, respectively. The antenna dimension is 52.8 X 31.2 11,1112, smaller than presently published antennas discussed in comparison table. (c) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 2207-2212, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www. interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24522