A wireless tunneling system tunnels communications between a first host device and a second host device through a wireless link, while maintaining compliance of the communications between the first and second host devices with a wired communication protocol and operates in a power efficient manner. Two host devices may communicate with each other through a wireless link using the wireless tunneling system, as if two host devices were connected through the wired cable. The wireless tunneling system operates in one of a high power state and one or more low power states. In the high power state, the wireless tunneling system exchanges data at a higher data rate for tunneling. In the low power state, the wireless tunneling system disables power hungry components for conserving power.