Windows – Wake-on-lan only works so many times

Wake-on-lan doesn't work over the internet

That's a good thing, do you want random people waking up your system via the Internet?

Your computer is behind a router. Pretty much anywhere your phone has Internet service, it is also behind a router, whether municipal Wifi, Starbucks, your workplace, etc.

WOL packets are broadcast packets. Standard routers do not forward broadcast packets. Broadcast packets are not meant to leave your LAN, can you imagine the possibilities for abuse if they did?

The proper way to do what you are trying to do is this: you need a system on your network on all the time that you can hop on, log into, and tell to issue a WOL packet on your network. DD-WRT has this capability if your router is flashed to it.

Colleague “A” is 100% correct: Wake-on-LAN (WoL) functionality dependent on the motherboard and related BIOS settings. The NIC should be able to support WoL and the BIOS needs to be able to make sense of the NIC saying, “Hey! This is your NIC and my WoL has been triggered! Do you care do do something with this info, motherboard?”

As explained very clearly on Wikipedia, Wake-on-LAN comes from the NIC’s firmware and is paid attention to by motherboards that respect WOL; bold emphasis is mine:

Wake-on-LAN support is implemented on the motherboard of a computer and the network interface (firmware), and is consequently not dependent on the operating system running on the hardware. Some operating systems can control Wake-on-LAN behaviour via NIC drivers. With older motherboards, if the network interface is a plug-in card rather than being integrated into the motherboard, the card may need to be connected to the motherboard by an additional cable. Motherboards with an embedded Ethernet controller which supports Wake-on-LAN do not need a cable. The power supply must meet ATX 2.01 specifications.

And with more detail of how the BIOS plays into the whole setup; again bold emphasis is mine:

Wake-on-LAN usually needs to be enabled in the Power Management section of a PC motherboard's BIOS setup utility, although on some systems, such as Apple computers, it is enabled by default. On older systems the bios setting may be referred to as "WOL", on newer systems supporting PCI version 2.2, it may be referred to as "PME" (Power Management Events, which include WOL). It may also be necessary to configure the computer to reserve standby power for the network card when the system is shut down.

And even more details from “How-To Geek Explains: What is Wake-on-LAN and How Do I Enable It?”; yet again bold emphasis is mine:

WoL is dependent on two things: your motherboard and your network card. Your motherboard must be hooked up to an ATX-compatible power supply, as most computers in the past decade or so are. Your Ethernet or wireless card must also support this functionality. Because it is set either through the BIOS or through your NIC’s firmware, you don’t need specific software to enable it. Support for WoL is pretty universal nowadays, even when it’s not advertised as a feature, so if you have a computer built in the past decade or so you’re covered.

And on many modern systems, there is no explicit WoL setting in the BIOS with the functionality either given a different name or buried under other power settings as explained in this Lifehacker post:

To access your BIOS, restart your computer and press and hold the Delete key (or whatever key your BIOS prompts you to hold) to enter the BIOS setup. Once you're in the BIOS, head to the Power management section and look for a Wake-on-LAN setting. If you find one, go ahead and make sure it's enabled, then save and exit your BIOS and start up your computer. Not all BIOS will have a straight-up Wake-on-LAN option, and on some boards you may have to enable a "Power On By PCI Devices" setting. It varies from board to board, so a little trial and error may be in order.