Sneakernet

Sneakernet is an informal term describing the transfer of electronic information, especially computer files, by physically moving removable media such as magnetic tape, floppy disks, compact discs, USB flash drives (thumb drives, USB stick), or external hard drives from one computer to another. This is usually in lieu of transferring the information over a computer network. The name is a tongue-in-cheek sound-alike to ethernet, and refers to the use of someone wearing sneakers as the transport mechanism for the data.

Sneakernet, whether called that or not, is often used as an academic example to illustrate the trade-off between latency and bandwidth.