A method includes: receiving, by a terminal device, a plurality of virtual channel indexes from a base station; selecting, by the terminal device, a virtual channel index from the plurality of virtual channel indexes; determining, by the terminal device based on the virtual channel index, physical channels corresponding to the virtual channel index on a plurality of subframes, where at least two of the physical channels corresponding to the virtual channel index on the plurality of subframes are different; and communicating, by the terminal device on at least one of the plurality of subframes, with the base station using the physical channel corresponding to the virtual channel index.