A method for accessing a hybrid network and a gateway communication system are disclosed. The method comprises: sensing by a gateway apparatus a relay request slot on a downlink common control channel of the wide area network; transmitting by a wireless terminal a relay request signal requesting to relay a data packet to be transmitted, in the relay request slot on the downlink common control channel; and if the relay request signal from the wireless terminal is sensed in the relay request slot, establishing by the gateway apparatus a connection with the wireless terminal in a distributed network environment. As such, the gateway apparatus accesses the wireless distributed network only when the surrounding wireless terminals require data relay, without sensing signals on both networks simultaneously.