A communication method includes obtaining, by an Internet of things platform, historical load of a serving cell of a terminal, determining, by the Internet of things platform, a data reporting time of the terminal based on the historical load of the serving cell, and sending, by the Internet of things platform to the terminal, a time at which the terminal reports data. In this embodiment, the data reporting time of the terminal is determined based on the historical load of the serving cell and a time range in which the terminal can report data.