When public Wi-Fi becomes junk: estimating the inconvenience costs of Wi-Fi interference

The proliferation of public Wi-Fi infrastructure driven by governments, businesses, and increased household use has led to network congestion in densely populated urban areas, resulting in signal interference and degraded service quality. While technical measures have been implemented, user-perceived burden or its economic implications remain underexplored. This study conceptualizes junk Wi-Fi as a form of digital infrastructure inefficiency and estimates its inconvenience costs using the contingent valuation method. We analyse data from a nationwide survey of 1,979 South Korean residents employing a one-and-one-half-bounded dichotomous choice format with a spike model to account for zero responses. Results reveal an average annual willingness to pay (WTP) of 4,159 KRW (USD 3.11) for improved connectivity. WTP varied significantly by usage context, satisfaction with Wi-Fi quality, local access point density, and users’ technology adoption tendencies. The findings provide empirical evidence for assessing the value of nonmarket digital infrastructures and offer actionable insights for telecommunications policymakers seeking to enhance public network quality, spectrum management, and user experience in dense urban environments.