A communication method and apparatus, the method including receiving, by a first access network device, a first message from a terminal in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state, where the first message requests to resume an RRC connection or to perform a radio access network-based notification area update (RNAU), and sending, by the first access network device, a first request message to a second access network device, where the first request message includes a cell radio network temporary identifier allocated by the first access network device for the terminal, and the second access network device is an access network device that retains a context of the terminal, and there is a control plane link of the terminal between the second access network device and a core network.