So, I have this setup, which, consists of a main router (from my ISP), a second router (the archer C80) and my PC. And, for pretty understandable reasons, I'm using the Archer C80 in WDS. It works fine. Basically, I wanted to use Wake on LAN, but with a device that is outside this network, in other words, Wake on WAN.

So, I setup port forwarding in my main router, and forwarded to the IPv4 address of my PC. There was just a small problem. My main router was pretty simple in configurations, and so, I found out that, when my PC is powered off, after some time, the main router clears its address from the ARP table. Which means that, when I send the magic packet, it can't forward to that IP because it doesn't know where it is, what MAC address it is attached to. And that garbage router has no such thing as a "IP and MAC binding", or any option related to the ARPs.

But the problem of this thread starts from here.

So my plan was to port forward the packets to the Archer C80 instead of my PC, and have the C80 bind my PC's IP and MAC address, then have it port forward to my PC.

I did all that, aaaand... It didn't work.

After some testing, I think the problem is the port forwarding setup with WDS in the Archer C80. I'm not 100% sure though.

Notes:

- The second router is connected to my PC via Ethernet.

- I've had a TL-WR841N before (also connected via Ethernet), and it was setup in WISP mode, and I was still using Wake on WAN with the same strategy, fully working. Port forwarding from my main router, to the second router, then, from the second router to my PC with IP and MAC binding. I think the difference here, is that WISP makes another subnet inside my main router's subnet, while WDS doesn't.

- I think IP and MAC binding might not be the problem because my PC's IPv4 address has never changed, up until today. It remains the same. That must mean it works, I think.

- I used Wireshark to see if I received any magic packet from my second router, and never did. But I did receive a magic packet when I port forwarded directly from my main router to my PC (of course, because it was on). So the port forwarding in my main router does work.

- I've also realized that, the Archer C80 can't access the internet itself, with WDS. All of my devices connected to it can, but the router seems unable to. It says "No internet connection" in the first page, the network map. In the TP-Link ID it says "Oops... The device is offline. Please check the WAN and network configuration to make sure the appropriate settings are entered correctly". Also, the router can't make Firmware updates (I think), because it can't also synchronize the clock. It can't get the clock from the internet. The clock is always wrong.