Terminal access method and system

The invention discloses a terminal access method and a terminal access system. When a terminal accesses to a network, an access network element selects an accessed core network element for the terminal according to the acquired terminal access holding capacity information of core network elements, wherein the terminal access holding capacity information comprises any one type or a combination of the following information: information of whether having terminal access holding capacity, information of whether having terminal processing capacity and information of whether having terminal overload processing capacity. By utilizing the method and the system disclosed by the invention, the core network element with corresponding processing capacity can be selected for the terminal according to the type, access level or priority of the terminal or the type or priority of service initiated by the terminal.