Umm...I'm not to sure where you guys are getting the 100ft number from, but the max length for an ethernet cable (before timing gets affected and wacky things start happening) is 100 meters, or roughly 325 ft. At 100 ft, the difference you'd see between that and 300ft is in the nanosecond range and really is considered to be "almost" zero. Of course, if you've got kinks and bends in the cable going between your router and console, that's going to affect it, but if you do a decent job of setting up the cable, you're not going to notice any difference.
Another thing to remember is that signal strength (power) and your speed are two different things. Power vs speed. Think of it this way, all the signal strength number is telling you is if you are connected to the signal or not. It doesn't matter if it's 100%, or 20%, it's just saying you are connected to the signal. The lower the number however, the more stuff there might be (i.e. distance, walls, electronic equipment, etc) between your router, and the console that is messing with the signal, creating extra processing time, which equals the lag you get. It's completely possible for someone with a 70% signal strength to download quicker than someone with a 100% signal strength. It's the stuff you're transmitting through which is really what's making a difference. Remember, no matter what, the signal traveling from your router to your PS3 is going at the speed of light and if your signal strength going to the PS3 says it's at 10%, your signal is still traveling at the same speed as everyone else's...but you've got more interference along the way.
Another example to explain it is, if you had two identical flashlights, and had someone point them in your face, 25ft away from you on a foggy day, they'd be the same brightness. Move one flashlight back another 25ft away so it was 50ft back, and it would appear dimmer. It's the same "strength" and amount of light coming from the flashlight, but because of all the extra fog it has to go through, it appears dimmer.
All said and done though, I'd go wired with the numbers you listed as your results. I'm sure you'll get way better performance out of a wired connection, again, as long as it doesn't go over 300ft.
Log in to comment