Communication systems provide important support for smart grid. But there has been a bottleneck in the field of distribution and communication network due to the absence of effective communication methods. This paper first introduce the characteristics and information requirement of smart distribution network, then gives an introduction and comparison on the communication technology such as passive optical network （PON）, world interoperability for microwave access（WiMAX）and power line carrier（PLC）.Finally, based on an economic and technical comparison, a technological application scheme and a system structure for distribution and communication network were presented. KEYWORDS: smart grid；passive optical network（PON）；world interoperability for microwave access（WiMAX）；power line carrier（PLC）；communication network；networking technology