In another implementation, each terminal uses a TA of the terminal. To be specific, for each user served by the beam/cell, the user uses a TA of the user to calculate a gap between an Msg2 and an Msg3. The base station notifies and delivers a TA of each user in a TAC field in the RAR. To be specific, after determining TAs of terminals, the base station separately delivers the TAs to the terminals, and does not use a same largest TA. Alternatively, a value greater than the TA of the terminal may be selected for each TA.
Based on a TA in a TAC field, the terminal selects a smallest TA that is greater than the value and that is in the table, namely, a closest TA, to calculate the gap and determine a location for sending the message 3.