This application discloses a user keepalive method and apparatus, and relates to the communications field. The method provides a solution to keep a user alive in a CU-separated broadband access gateway. The method is used in a broadband access gateway including a control plane entity and a user plane entity. The broadband access gateway is configured to enable a user to access a network. The method is performed by the user plane entity. The method includes: sending probe packets to the user based on a preset parameter obtained by the user plane entity in advance; and if a probe response packet sent by the user is not received in preset duration, sending a probe failure message to the control plane entity, where the probe packets are used to check whether a communication link between the user and the user plane entity is faulty, and the probe failure message indicates the control plane entity to perform offline processing on the user.