re: How would you explain wireless internet to people from the 1800's

I would ask them if they wanted to look at huge Abe Lincoln bushes from the pleasure of your feathered bed

Depends if you were talking to a scientist or a layman. Charles Babbage had developed a prototype mechanical device that solved differential equations by 1821. He would be quick to grasp the concept.

First you have to teach them about wires

"It be witchery!"

(no message)

I'd just pull out my phone and show them porn.

I would explain to them how I ordered noise cancelling headphones and pizza online, AND had them delivered to my house without having to talk to anyone. Awesome.

Tubes

It’s the devil and magic

It depends on which people from part of the 1800's. Assuming they were scientists or engineers, I would go over the advances in mathematics, EM physics since then. Then give'm a crash course in symbolic logic, then using their equipment I would build a crude CPU and dot matrix display to create a dick picture. This would bootstrap the process building machines that could read and write the data one broadcasts over a wireless network.

I would go across the ocean, repeat the same process, then while both teams were refining the prototypes, I would teach them how to design the programming languages for each layer of the architecture, as I instructed them in network theory.

I'd go check on them every few weeks and after a while, I would show them how to run their wireless networks properly and warn them of the perils of social media.

If it were not a scientists or engineers, I'd find something to do with them. Probably teach them modern football or show them how electricity or combustion works.