Embodiments of the present application disclose a communication method, including: performing, by a base station, beam scanning and alignment together with first terminal in a first subframe, to determine a beam that is used for sending data in the first subframe; and sending, by the base station, beam information of the beam used for sending data, where the beam information includes at least identification information of the beam and a synchronization signal, the synchronization signal is used by second terminal to synchronize with the base station, and the identification information of the beam is used by the first terminal and the second terminal to identify the beam sent by the base station. According to the present application, a time for scanning and alignment can be reduced, so as to facilitate quick access of a user that is to perform access.