The coverage, connectivity and communication (C3) protocol method for wireless sensor networks is an integrated and energy-efficient protocol for Coverage, Connectivity and Communication (C3) in WSNs. The C3 protocol uses RSSI to divide the network into virtual rings, defines clusters with clusterheads more probably at alternating rings, defines dings, which are rings inside a cluster, uses triangular tessellation to identify redundant nodes, and communicates data to sink through clusterheads and gateways. The protocol strives for near-optimal deployment, load balancing, and energy-efficient communication. Simulation results show that the C3 protocol ensures partial coverage of more than 90% of the total deployment area, ensures 1-connected network, and facilitates energy-efficient communication, while expending only ¼th of the energy compared to other related protocols.