A communication device includes a receiving unit configured to receive a frame via a connected packet network, a transmitting unit configured to transmit the received frame and a self-originating frame to the packet network, a monitoring unit configured to monitor a flow rate of the transmitted frames, a transmission cycle setting unit configured to cause a transmission cycle of the self-originating OAM frame to be a predetermined transmission cycle set for a normal condition when the flow rate of the frames is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold, and a transmission cycle calculating unit configured to calculate a transmission cycle of the OAM frame that can compensate for a shortfall in the number of the transmitted frames, the transmission cycle calculating unit being configured to cause the calculated transmission cycle to be a transmission cycle of the self-originating OAM frame when the flow rate of the frames is less than the predetermined threshold.