A beam-based multi-connection communication method, wherein a terminal device communicates with and connects to a network device by using a plurality of beams, and the method comprises: establishing, by the terminal device, a communication connection to a first sub-beam of the network device by using a first beam in the plurality of beams; wherein the first sub-beam is a dedicated message beam; characterized in that before the establishing, by the terminal device, a communication connection to a first sub-beam of the network device by using a first beam, the method further comprises: receiving, by the terminal device by using the first beam, downlink reference signals sent by a plurality of sub-beams of the network device; measuring, by the terminal device, signal quality of the plurality of sub-beams of the network device based on the downlink reference signals; determining, by the terminal device, a first beam pair based on measurement results, wherein the first beam pair comprises the first beam of the terminal device and the first sub-beam of the network device; and sending, by the terminal device, attribute information of the first sub-beam to the network device by using the first beam, wherein the attribute information of the first sub-beam is used by the network device to determine the first sub-beam, and establish, by using the first sub-beam, a communication connection to the first beam used by the terminal device. establishing, by the terminal device, a communication connection to a first sub-beam of the network device by using a first beam in the plurality of beams; wherein the first sub-beam is a dedicated message beam; characterized in that before the establishing, by the terminal device, a communication connection to a first sub-beam of the network device by using a first beam, the method further comprises: receiving, by the terminal device by using the first beam, downlink reference signals sent by a plurality of sub-beams of the network device; measuring, by the terminal device, signal quality of the plurality of sub-beams of the network device based on the downlink reference signals; determining, by the terminal device, a first beam pair based on measurement results, wherein the first beam pair comprises the first beam of the terminal device and the first sub-beam of the network device; and sending, by the terminal device, attribute information of the first sub-beam to the network device by using the first beam, wherein the attribute information of the first sub-beam is used by the network device to determine the first sub-beam, and establish, by using the first sub-beam, a communication connection to the first beam used by the terminal device. receiving, by the terminal device by using the first beam, downlink reference signals sent by a plurality of sub-beams of the network device; measuring, by the terminal device, signal quality of the plurality of sub-beams of the network device based on the downlink reference signals; determining, by the terminal device, a first beam pair based on measurement results, wherein the first beam pair comprises the first beam of the terminal device and the first sub-beam of the network device; and sending, by the terminal device, attribute information of the first sub-beam to the network device by using the first beam, wherein the attribute information of the first sub-beam is used by the network device to determine the first sub-beam, and establish, by using the first sub-beam, a communication connection to the first beam used by the terminal device.