People are advocating for work from home (WFH) policies in their offices. Some think it’s the best working condition option. If you ask them why they think so, they will tell you that if they work from home, they will have flexible working time. That means they can wake up anytime they want to and do the job when they feel like. After all, all that is needed is for the job to get done. Another thing you might hear from the advocates of WFH is that they will work from the comfort of their homes and be near their families. You might also hear that WFH saves money that would have been used on commuting to work and paying for lunch. Well, before you opt for WFH, you may need to reflect over its disadvantages, especially for Nigerians.

The first mentioned supposed advantage of WFH is flexibility. Here people believe that they are no longer restricted to a particular period of time to do their jobs. They see WFH as a situation, whereby you “go to work” whenever you want to and then “leave” when you feel like. Well, flexible working hours may be an advantage of WFH, but then, instead of having a 9-5 working period, you will get 12-12 working hours. Here, nobody checks time for you. You are given a job and a deadline. Whether you stayed awake all through the night to do it is nobody’s business. In the office, you can shut down your computer and come back the following day to finish up the job. But in this case, you must meet the deadline or you face the music. In this working condition, there is no weekend, no off-duty, no overtime, and no clock-in and clock-out; you work 24/7.

Next “lie” that WFH uses to lure people into its cage is that it tells them that they will work from the comfort of their homes and be near their families. Of course, you will be near your family, but they are the ones that will take away that “comfort”. Just close your eyes and imagine what it is like when you are cracking your brain to sort out an issue and your children are doing acrobatic displays in the background. Or your neighbours decided that loud music is the best way to enjoy songs. Or two women across the street decided to settle their fights with shouting at each other. Just imagine the distractions you will get when the environment isn’t as conducive as that of your office, that’s what WFH will give you.

So people told you it is cheaper to work from your home. Did they tell you that you have to buy extra fuel everyday to get those jobs done? Did they tell you that you have to buy working materials (printers, scanners, papers, and so on)? Did they tell you the numerous phone calls you have to make in order to do a good job? How about the data you will spend on downloads and uploads, ever thought of them? That little money you saved from lunch and transport fare will be swallowed up by miscellaneous expenses that come with remote working. You may even spend more if care isn’t taken.

I am not trying to discourage anybody from the WFH option but you need to consider a lot of things before you opt for it. You may no longer have to jump out of the bed when the alarm sounds by 4am but you may have to stay awake till 2am. Honestly, your boss/client actually owns your time when you work from home. So if you must take this option, make sure it is the best one available.

China is making tremendous progress in its 5G roll out despite US ban on its lead telecom company, Huawei. China Daily reported that the number of 5G users in Beijing has hit 5.06 million since the network was launched in 2019.

The unprecedented growth has been powered by the proactivity of Beijing Branches of China Mobile, China Unicorn and China Telecom. These three companies with 5G licenses have applied 5G in over 1,000 projects, according to the report.

A total of 44,000 5G base stations have become operational as of August, and the number is expected to exceed 50,000 by the end of 2020, according to Beijing Municipal Communication Administration.

The Administration said the numbers are enough to meet the demand of industrial internet, internet of vehicles and telemedicine.

In the US, the cities are still struggling with 5G infrastructure that should provide the speed needed for services such as the internet of vehicles and telemedicine. While the US is recording an increase of 5G deployment in many cities, users say its speed and effectiveness are very poor compared to other countries and cities outside the United States.

Opensignal report published in August confirmed that the US is lagging behind compared to many other countries. The report was based on average 5G download speed, which saw other countries way ahead of the United States.

South Korean 5G users have the best experience with 5.3 times faster average 5G speeds than 4G – 312.7Mbps. Australia came second with 215.7Mbps, followed by Taiwan with 210.2Mbps and Canada, 178.1Mbps. Saudi Arabia has 414.2Mbps, a speed 14.3 times faster than 4G. However, the US recorded slow speed in both 4G (28.9Mbps) and 5G (50.9Mbps), making it the slowest among the countries in opensignal report.

The compared speeds show that users in several countries enjoy 4G connections faster than the average US 5G speed. Another country with a low 5G speed is the UK, due to its government’s decision to oust Huawei from 5G roll out. VentureBeat reported that there is a scanty 5G network in many UK cities, but where it can be found, the network download speed is 133.5Mbps, which is 2.6 times faster than that of the US.

Consequently, the United States 5G status places it behind several other countries in innovations and technologies expected to be powered by 5G networks. Telemedicine, car internet and industrial technologies waiting to be powered by 5G networks will have to wait longer, at least 2021 or 2022, when the US is expected to Improve the speed of its 5G network.

Meanwhile, Huawei has continued to lobby Washington to allow US companies to supply it with chips. Though the embattled Chinese company’s Rotating Chairman Guo Ping said it has enough chipsets for its business to business operations, including 5G network enterprise, it desperately needs chips for smartphone production. Rolling out 5G networks without the devices will amount to a half-done job to Huawei.

Some US companies have applied for licenses to supply Huawei with the chips it needs to make smartphones. Early this week, the US government grants Intel license to supply Huawei with chipsets, now Qualcomm has applied for license and so does other chip-making companies including South Korea’s SK Hynix, and US’ MediaTek.

If the applications are approved, it means Huawei will have enough for its 5G smartphones. The Chinese telecom giant said it is willing to use chipsets from US companies, including Qualcomm.

“It is understood that suppliers such as Qualcomm were applying for U.S. licenses which would allow them to continue serving Huawei,” said Guo Ping, Adding that he hopes that the US government would reconsider its policy and allow Huawei to get supplies from US companies.