Why can my laptop connect to Wi-Fi signals that my iphone can't?

So i have a iphone five and i have free access to bt openzone and o2 Wi-Fi, only problem being that i can't pick up the Wi-Fi signal on my iphone to connect to them.
however my old dell inspiron | 1000 can pick up these Wi-Fi signals from the same house? What the hell! I want to use this Wi-Fi as its free, but my phone but it won't pick it up but my laptop can! Any ideas on how i can fix this?

Don't worry, there's a way! I'm not sure how to do it but you can use your computer as a range extender, Google more to find out.

The Wi-Fi antenna in a laptop is very long. It's a wire that literally runs 360 degrees around the laptop. Wi-Fi ranges on laptops reach much, much further than desktop or cell phones.