Using Wake on LAN With Google Wifi

Taking the time to write this one up for some other poor soul like me in the future who couldn’t find adequate answers.

Long story short – yes – “Wake on LAN” does work with Google Wifi.

Here are some steps:

1. Know your IPv4 external address and/or bind it to a Dynamic DNS Service like No-Ip or DuckDNS
   • It is very common for an ISP to just flat give you a new IP address – you have to know this address and understand that if your IPv4 address changes you cannot do a damn thing about it other than mitigate ahead of time
   • We as residential customers have little to no guarantee on our parameters with bandwidth or otherwise – because we’re residential
2. Have Wake on LAN up and working in a Local IPv4 context first
   • Aka connected to home wifi network – issue the “Magic Packet” – AT HOME
   • If you can’t get it working using your 192.168.* version of your IP while you’re sitting at home – you absolutely have to figure that out first – so stop reading and go figure that out before attempting an external context
3. Set the following parameters on the Google Wifi Android or iPhone Application:
   • Google Wifi App -> Network & General -> Advanced Networking -> DHCP IP reservations -> Plus Button -> Choose Computer -> Leave Number Default -> Next -> Done
     • Change default if you want but unless you are truly looking for more debug and/or actually require a custom IP number – just leave it alone – no one cares about your fancy 3 digit number other than you – no one will see it – just leave it default
   • Google Wifi App -> Network & General -> Advanced Networking -> Port Management -> Plus Button -> Choose Computer – Use below settings and hit Done
     • Internal Port – 7
     • External Port – 1337
     • Remarks:
       • Internal Port – 7 is default what your computer will listen on locally and/or 9 – but 7 is what my computer responds on
       • External Port – Goal is to choose literally any number other than that is a valid port number – some notes I saw online suggested that our ISP’s have potentially gotten in the habit of straight up blocking these before they even reach the modem – so usage of a nonstandard port fixes this issue
4. For your test case – I highly suggest starting with the physical numeric IPv4 address before attempting to use any Dynamic DNS solution – just so you know it works bare minumum and can rule out any other variables
5. Connected to your Home Wifi – go google “what is my current ip address ipv4”
   • Write that down or screenshot it
6. Disconnected from Home Wifi – Download a Wake on LAN application on your phone and do the below settings based off previous data in this guide
   • I used the app “Wake on LAN” on Android
   • IP/Hostname/Etc – input data from Step 5
   • Port – 1337 (or whatever you customized it to – remember my note around blockage and usage of nonstandard ports)
   • Send WOL packet – should work assuming you followed guidance on Step 2 – if you can’t get Wake On Lan working on your home network first you’re only wasting your own time by adding extra debug steps

Let me know in the comments down below your experience – despite Google Support stating that WOL isn’t supported in a few searches I saw – worked just fine for me.