A novel power conservation scheme is provided for conserving power in client terminals by using a proxy server. The client terminal may have a secondary communication interface for short range communications and a primary communication interface for long range communications with an access point for a wireless network. To conserve power, the client terminal may power down its primary communication interface without informing the access point. The access point assumes the primary communication interface is still active. Prior to shutting off its primary communication interface, the client terminal may assign an external proxy device to act as a proxy and monitor its data channel with the access point. The proxy device monitors the data channel(s) for the client terminal via a primary communication interface. If the proxy device detects a data message for the client terminal, it forwards the data message to the client terminal via a secondary communication interface.