A dual‐band multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) antenna covering 2.2–2.7GHz and 4.9–5.9 GHz frequency bands for wireless local area network (WLAN) application is presented. The proposed antenna consists of two C‐shaped monopole antenna elements and a decoupling structure. The decoupling structure based on a new printed bent T‐shaped resonator which is embedded between the antenna elements to obtain high isolation in WLAN bands. The proposed MIMO antenna has a compact size of 40 × 40 mm2 (0.32 λ0 × 0.32 λ0) and the antenna prototype is fabricated and measured. The measured results with the decoupling structure show that the mutual coupling between two ports is less than −15 dB and the reflection coefficients are less than −10 dB over the operating bands. The good impedance matching and high isolation make the antenna a good candidate as a terminal antenna for WLAN applications. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:2257–2262, 2015