Provided in an embodiment of the present application are a communication method and apparatus, and the method comprises: an Internet of Things platform acquiring a historical load of a service cell of a terminal; the Internet of Things platform determining a time in which the terminal reports data according to the historical load of the service cell; the Internet of Things platform sending to the terminal the time in which the terminal reports data. In the present embodiment, the time in which the terminal reports data is determined according to the historical load of the service cell and a time range in which the terminal may report data. Therefore, the determined time in which data is reported may be, for example, a time in which the load of the service cell is lightest in the time range in which data may be reported, such that the terminal may perform off-peak data reporting, and a large number of terminals reporting at the same time may be avoided, thereby avoiding network congestion, and improving network utilization and the success rate of data reporting.