Downloading from desktop quicker than direct Internet?

Question

Is transfering a file from the desktop to an iPhone quicker than downloading the same file from the Internet to the iPhone?

My app allows users to download video files, which are stored locally on the app. These aren't streamed but instead watched from the iPhone's hard drive once downloaded. The downloads are fairly slow using 3G or even wifi. A 4MB download can take a few minutes.

I'm considering creating a desktop companion app that will allow users to download videos from the desktop, using their faster connection. Users will probably be able to download a few videos in the same amount of time it takes to download one on the iPhone. Then the app will sync with the iPhone app and transfer directly from the desktop.

The desktop app will be Mac only. Will transfering directly from the desktop to the iPhone be much quicker than from Internet to iPhone? Enough that creating the desktop app is worth it?

-- EDIT --

Here's a comparison between the two downloads with a 2.7MB file on the same wifi network but not at the same time:

[With real-time progress indicator]
iPhone simulator: 58 seconds
iPhone 3G S: 1:45 seconds

[Without real-time progress indicator]
iPhone simulator: 34 seconds
iPhone 3G S: 1:52 seconds

Removing the real-time progress doesn't make much difference. I'm not sure why it took longer on the device. Here is how I'm doing the real-time progress: each time

- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection   *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData   *)data

is called, I calculate how much has been downloaded so far and update a progress bar in real-time.

Answer 1

The best way to find out would be to test it out yourself. That being said, if you are transferring it over the air using wifi, it should be faster, if the PC in question is on a connection faster than what the iphone can get using wifi or 3g.

Answer 2

Downloading on desktop would most likely be faster than 3G, but if you take into account the time (and pain) to synch then it's different... Personnaly I hate when I have to plug my phone into my computer (or interact with it in any way) in order to do something.

Also you can use wifi to download faster with your iPhone so the downloading time would be pretty close to the one on a desktop computer.