A rate-adaptive method of communicating over a multipath wireless communication system uses multiple links such that each end of a link uses multiple transmit and receive antennas. A number of independent streams that are to be transmitted for each link is determined based on an overall system performance measure. In addition, the system may also jointly determine the best modulation, coding, power control, and frequency assignment for each link, based on an overall system performance measure. In OFDM systems, the number of independent streams, as well as the modulation, coding, and power control, may be determined on a tone-by-tone basis based on an overall system performance measure.