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Theoretically they all (wireless routers and adapters) follow common protocol so there should be no problem.

But in the practical world, where there are different models, brands, implementations, Windows drivers etc.. will buying one brand of wifi router and another brand of wifi adapter give me any problems?

Assume they both are capable of handling 802.11n

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You really can't tell.

I've had situations where router and card made by same manufacturer worked much worse than a card made by a different manufacturer.

On the other hand, if you use products made by same manufacturer, you may benefit from some proprietary features.

Also manufacturer of chipset used by the router and by the card can have much greater impact than manufacturer of the router and the card. On the other hand, it's difficult to find out whose chipset router and card use before buying them.

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Certain brands are just good to stay away from. The only Time it matters is when you want to use speed-boosting features between the NIC and the router, then brands must match. – MaQleod Mar 5 '11 at 19:28
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@MaQleod I am new to buying network equipment, so.. could you tell what those brands would be? – user57813 Mar 5 '11 at 19:37
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