The present disclosure relates to passive optical network (PON) systems, an optical line terminal (OLT), and an optical network unit (ONU). One example PON system includes an OLT and at least two ONUs, and the OLT and the ONUs exchange data on one downstream channel and two upstream channels. The OLT sends downstream data to each ONU on the downstream channel, where the downstream data includes an upstream bandwidth grant which is used to control the ONU to send upstream data. Each ONU receives the downstream data on the downstream channel, and sends the upstream data on a first upstream channel or a second upstream channel based on the upstream bandwidth grant included in the downstream data. The OLT receives, on the first upstream channel and the second upstream channel, the upstream data sent by each ONU.