IMessage and SMS fallback - how does it work?

Hi community,
I am really struggling to understand how iMessage works when the receiver use iMessage normally but does not have a data connection for whatever reason (but does have normal GSM cellphone signal).  People are saying that iMessage is intelligent and will fall-back on SMS if the recipient is not contactable on iMessage - but this seemingly DOES NOT HAPPEN.  It only automatially falls-back on SMS if the sender (ie. me) does not have data coverage - which is useless, I know when I dont have data - I can work that one out for myself thank-you-very-much Apple.
My friends on limited data plans will often turn their mobile-data off (from the settings menu) to save on $ charges and on battery life.  I of course, never know exactly when they have done this.  So at various times when they have data enabled iMessage will discover the link between their apple ID and phone number and automatically start using iMessage - which is great.  However if on a subsequent day they turn their data off, I will try to message them and they will never receive it but I will get no clear indication on my end that this has failed.  It might be 2 or 3 days until they turn their data back on, or stumble into a free hotspot until they get my message.
The same happened when I went abroad but in reverse - I turned my data off, yet my family's phones were still trying to send me iMessage messages, I didn't get them for several days until I connected my iPad to a hotel's WiFi.
So the only way I can be sure messages get through to my friends and family and that my friends and family can get through to me in a timely manner is for us ALL to disable iMessage completely.  Making iMessage pointless.
Please prove me wrong, but I cannot get it to function in any other way.

I remember having sent an iMessage to one of my friends and I was wondering why it firstly was sent as an iMessage and then obviously got sent another time, this time the bubble turned green so I knew it was an SMS. Later I asked him why this might probably have happened and he told me he was doing a phone call and fell back to GSM, and he wasn't connected to WiFi.
So my impression is that iMessage indeed also screens whether the recipient has internet connection or not. If he doesn't, the iPhone will send an SMS.
Regards

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