A communication method, a system, and an apparatus are provided. In technical solutions provided in this application, a first access network device sends a handover request message about a terminal to a second access network device based on first handover time information, where the first handover time information includes corresponding time for serving the terminal by at least one access network device; and after receiving the handover request message, the second access network device communicates with a user plane function network element based on the handover request message and core network tunnel information that is of the terminal and that has been stored in the second access network device. In this way, signaling exchange related to the core network tunnel information between the second access network device and a core network device is reduced, and handover efficiency of performing a handover procedure by the terminal is improved.