[flashdance]

> The law of reciprocity says that nothing is to be gained if the base transmitter is more powerful than the mobile TX.

Late response, but that assumes that the mobile RX is as good as the tower's RX, and I can assure you that's not the case.

The gear up on a tower has a way better low noise amplifier than a mobile phone, so it's able to "hear" the phone at a greater distance than you'd expect. That's why it's a-okay to have a base transmitter with a quite a bit more power than a mobile TX.