The unicast communication method includes: grouping, by a base station, terminals based on channel condition levels according to measurement information of an uplink channel, so as to obtain at least two channel condition level groups; selecting a modulation-coding mode suitable for each channel condition level group, and decoding a packet to be sent to a terminal by using fountain codes, so as to obtain a fountain code block; sending the fountain code block to the terminal; receiving, by the terminal, the fountain code block of the packet sent by the base station; determining a channel condition level group to which the terminal belongs, decoding the fountain code block by using the modulation-coding mode corresponding to the channel condition level group; and sending or not sending acknowledgment feedback to the base station.