A communication method includes: determining a first central unit (CU)-user plane (UP) and a user plane function (UPF) network element that correspond to a quality of service (QoS) flow, where an access network device to which the first CU-UP belongs supports at least two CU-UPs; determining a first packet delay budget (PDB) for transmitting the QoS flow between the first CU-UP and the UPF network element; and sending the first PDB to the access network device, where the first PDB is used by the access network device to schedule an air interface resource. After the CU-UP corresponding to the QoS flow is determined, the PDB of the CU-UP corresponding to the QoS flow may be sent to the radio access network (RAN) device.