pv is a nice tool that just reports on the rate and number of bytes moving through the pipe, optional if you don't have it. Throw in gpg --symmetric + gpg --decrypt for good measure if you want to encrypt it on the wire with a password.
That throws your files over the wire with no encryption, signing, or integrity verification. It might well be fine for your use, but I don't think I'd ever be comfortable with it.
On the receiving end:
On the sending end: pv is a nice tool that just reports on the rate and number of bytes moving through the pipe, optional if you don't have it. Throw in gpg --symmetric + gpg --decrypt for good measure if you want to encrypt it on the wire with a password.