Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an internet of things-based communication method, which applied to the field of communications technologies to resolve a problem of a short battery life of an internet of things device caused by frequent movement of an internet of things device. The method includes: receiving, by a second access point, a data packet from an internet of things device, where the data packet carries an identifier of an access point coordinating cluster; and sending, by the second access point, a first acknowledgment message to the internet of things device; or sending, by the second access point to a first access point, the data packet and signal strength of the data packet received by the second access point.