Words protector and protection describe different items. Similar words describe different concepts and items. No protector does protection. But a properly earthed 'whole house' protector, when part of a larger system, does protection. Why? Because two different items must exist: a protector and protection.
A man is not a women. But men and women are men - not monkeys.
Protection is always about where hundreds of thousands of joules dissipate. Protection is about knowing where energy dissipates. An effective protection system dissipates hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly outside the building. That means a surge current must not be anywhere inside the building. That means a protector is only one component of a larger system. A system that includes another and the most important component - the protection.
How to identify a potentially effective and ineffective protector? Effective protectors only do what a hardwire would do better. So effective protectors have a short and dedicated wire for a low impedance connection to earth. Ineffective protectors do not. Low impedance (obviously different from low resistance) and the quality of earth ground defines how effective that protector (as part of a system) is. IOW a protector is only as effective as its earth ground.