A timer control method includes a receiving device that performs re-establishment or data recovery on a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer of the receiving device. The PDCP layer stops the running of a reordering timer of the PDCP layer when the reordering timer is in a running state, where the reordering timer enables the PDCP layer to wait to receive a lost data packet. Because the reordering timer is stopped from running rather than expires, the PDCP layer does not update a value of RX_DELIV.