A communication method, wherein the method comprises: receiving (S501b), by a policy control network element (100, 110), a service identifier of a first service and address information of a first server that provides the first service from the first server, obtaining, by the policy control network element (100, 110), a first address, wherein the first address is an address to be used by user equipment (140, 150) as a destination address to send a data packet of the first service to a user plane function network element (120, 130); sending, by the policy control network element (100, 110) to the user plane function network element (120, 130), a first correspondence between the first address and the address information of the first server that provides the first service, wherein an address indicated by the address information is an address to be used by the user plane function network element (120, 130) to send the data packet of the first service to the first server; and sending, by the policy control network element (100, 110) to the user equipment (140, 150), a second correspondence between the first address and the service identifier of the first service, wherein different servers including the first server as well as a second server provide the first service, and wherein the first correspondence between the first address and the address information of the first server is sent, by the policy control network element to the user plane function network element (120, 130) through a session management network element, wherein the first correspondence between the first address and the address information of the first server is determined by the policy control network element or the first correspondence between the first address and the address information of the first server is sent by the first server to the policy control network element or the first correspondence between the first address and the address information of the first server is sent to a unified data management network element and is obtained by the policy control network element from the unified data management network element or the first correspondence between the first address and the address information of the first server is sent to a unified data repository network element and is obtained by the policy control network element from the unified data repository network element. receiving (S501b), by a policy control network element (100, 110), a service identifier of a first service and address information of a first server that provides the first service from the first server, obtaining, by the policy control network element (100, 110), a first address, wherein the first address is an address to be used by user equipment (140, 150) as a destination address to send a data packet of the first service to a user plane function network element (120, 130); sending, by the policy control network element (100, 110) to the user plane function network element (120, 130), a first correspondence between the first address and the address information of the first server that provides the first service, wherein an address indicated by the address information is an address to be used by the user plane function network element (120, 130) to send the data packet of the first service to the first server; and sending, by the policy control network element (100, 110) to the user equipment (140, 150), a second correspondence between the first address and the service identifier of the first service, wherein different servers including the first server as well as a second server provide the first service, and wherein the first correspondence between the first address and the address information of the first server is sent, by the policy control network element to the user plane function network element (120, 130) through a session management network element, wherein the first correspondence between the first address and the address information of the first server is determined by the policy control network element or the first correspondence between the first address and the address information of the first server is sent by the first server to the policy control network element or the first correspondence between the first address and the address information of the first server is sent to a unified data management network element and is obtained by the policy control network element from the unified data management network element or the first correspondence between the first address and the address information of the first server is sent to a unified data repository network element and is obtained by the policy control network element from the unified data repository network element.