Or just telling people "I will be at [name of destination]. If you need me
for something important, call me at
[telephone number].

no they can't. That doesn't work anymore. The phone companies got wise to that
long ago and changed the sysyem so that pay phones will no longer ring. They
did that so that no one can do what you mentined like they used to do.

They did this to prevent the person at the pay phone from telling the other
person they know to call them there, so that the person at the pay phone has to
make the call and pay. (unless they call collect).

If you look closely, there is now signs on pay phones saying "no incoming
calls".

And the pay phones actually do not ring anymore if someone does call them.