using scp, if available
scp -C -o CompressionLevel=<compression> <file> <machine>:<location>

compressed whole directory:

tar cvf - . | gzip -c -1 | rsh remote_machine "cd dest_dir; gunzip -c | tar xvf -" 

be carfeul of tar throwing errors on files too big though

transfer individual files using

compressed:

dd if=filename bs=256k | gzip -c -1 | rsh remote_machine "gunzip -c | dd of=filename ibs=256k obs=256k"

or uncompressed:

dd if=filename bs=256k | rsh remote_machine "dd of=filename ibs=256k obs=256k"

also, see Network File Copy using SSH