This has actually happened in the past. There was no ringing for the person who was trying to get in contact with me after the SIM card was out and destroyed.
So I am not sure you are correct..or perhaps technology has changed since then
Like I say it all depends on the configuration of the system. Someone else noticed that his rang (from the caller's perspective) even when he had the phone shut off but I would have thought that by shutting off the phone would have deregistered and there would be no "ringing". However, deregistration is a one-attempt and no retries thing and so is not full-proof.