1. True RCS isn't supposed to go through internet, it's supposed to go through same way as SMS and voice calls (which is also a data connection, but specific to sms/rcs/voice)

2. That's not a requirement even though Google does their best to kill all alternative implementations. (Samsung had one, but Google paid them a lot of money to get rid of it. I have to admit I don't know who is left with their own RCS client)

> So, RCS is not a replacement for SMS.

It's 100% a replacement to SMS, it's literally defined in the same spec as SMS over LTE, as an upgrade to SMS. Though yeah Google made it, this... uh... thing. RCS is technically a federated standard, but Google killed every part of the federation and some parts of the standard.