A communication method, wherein the method comprises: obtaining, by a first access network device, a first data block; performing, by the first access network device, network coding on the first data block to generate a plurality of first encoded data blocks; and performing, by the first access network device, offload processing on at least one first encoded data block in the plurality of first encoded data blocks, wherein the offload processing comprises: sending, by the first access network device, a part of the at least one first encoded data block to a second access network device, and directly sending, by using an air interface, another part of the at least one first encoded data block to the terminal device; characterized in that the performing, by the first access network device, network coding on the first data block to generate a plurality of first encoded data blocks comprises: if the data volume of data packets received by the first access network device is greater than a second threshold K, using, by the first access network device, one or more of the data packets as the first data block, and performing the network coding on the first data block, wherein the data volume of the first data block is less than or equal to K; or if the data volume of data packets received by the first access network device is greater than a first threshold and is less than or equal to the second threshold K, using, by the first access network device, the data packets as the first data block, and performing the network coding on the first data block, wherein K is a positive integer number of bits. obtaining, by a first access network device, a first data block; performing, by the first access network device, network coding on the first data block to generate a plurality of first encoded data blocks; and performing, by the first access network device, offload processing on at least one first encoded data block in the plurality of first encoded data blocks, wherein the offload processing comprises: sending, by the first access network device, a part of the at least one first encoded data block to a second access network device, and directly sending, by using an air interface, another part of the at least one first encoded data block to the terminal device; characterized in that the performing, by the first access network device, network coding on the first data block to generate a plurality of first encoded data blocks comprises: if the data volume of data packets received by the first access network device is greater than a second threshold K, using, by the first access network device, one or more of the data packets as the first data block, and performing the network coding on the first data block, wherein the data volume of the first data block is less than or equal to K; or if the data volume of data packets received by the first access network device is greater than a first threshold and is less than or equal to the second threshold K, using, by the first access network device, the data packets as the first data block, and performing the network coding on the first data block, wherein K is a positive integer number of bits. sending, by the first access network device, a part of the at least one first encoded data block to a second access network device, and directly sending, by using an air interface, another part of the at least one first encoded data block to the terminal device; characterized in that the performing, by the first access network device, network coding on the first data block to generate a plurality of first encoded data blocks comprises: if the data volume of data packets received by the first access network device is greater than a second threshold K, using, by the first access network device, one or more of the data packets as the first data block, and performing the network coding on the first data block, wherein the data volume of the first data block is less than or equal to K; or if the data volume of data packets received by the first access network device is greater than a first threshold and is less than or equal to the second threshold K, using, by the first access network device, the data packets as the first data block, and performing the network coding on the first data block, wherein K is a positive integer number of bits. if the data volume of data packets received by the first access network device is greater than a second threshold K, using, by the first access network device, one or more of the data packets as the first data block, and performing the network coding on the first data block, wherein the data volume of the first data block is less than or equal to K; or if the data volume of data packets received by the first access network device is greater than a first threshold and is less than or equal to the second threshold K, using, by the first access network device, the data packets as the first data block, and performing the network coding on the first data block, wherein K is a positive integer number of bits.