In theory, no. Both are limited (by law, at least in Europe) to a maximum of 100mW EIRP. What does that mean? Mobile phones' directional characteristics should be pretty much isotropic (that is, they radiate the same in every direction), to achieve the same performance no matter which way they are rotated. Wireless access points (WAP) generally have (a set of) directional antennas to achieve a more efficient distribution. Think of your phone as a WAP: all the waves it radiates to the sky and to the ground are wasted. With a flatter directional diagram, you could cover a bigger area with the same power. Or the same area with less power. The above 100mW EIRP limitation postulates that with a more efficient antenna, a WAP is limited to the latter option, covering the same ditance in the direction of peak sensitivity as the mobile phone does in any direction, only using less power. So no, a WAP does not transmit farther. It can, however, receive more efficiently which may help a little bit in edge situations. This is all just a theory though. You would be better off performing an experiment and giving us the results. Do not forget to state the make and model when you do. Not all WAPs are created equally compliant