Techniques are disclosed for generating 802.11 packets that simulate an 802.11ba Wake-Up Radio (WUR) packet by wireless access points (APs) that implement pre-802.11ba standards. According to one embodiment disclosed herein, a predefined bit stream including a plurality of data bits is evaluated. A data bit of the plurality is mapped to one of a plurality of subcarriers. A symbol is encoded in a data payload of a network packet based on the mapping of the data bit to the subcarrier. The symbol simulates an on-off key (OOK)-modulated symbol in a WUR sequence. The network packet is transmitted to a client device.