An uplink data transmission resource obtaining method and apparatus are provided. The method includes: sending, by user equipment, a resource obtaining request to a first network node, and receiving a resource obtaining response that is returned by the first network node in response to the resource obtaining request, where the resource obtaining request is used to obtain an uplink data transmission resource used to transmit uplink data; determining, by the user equipment according to the received resource obtaining response, a serving network node that provides an uplink data transmission resource for the user equipment, and determining the uplink data transmission resource that is provided by the serving network node for the user equipment; and sending, by the user equipment, uplink data by using the uplink data transmission resource provided by the serving network node.