Comcast is lending a helping hand to those impacted by Hurricane Sandy by allowing free access to its Xfinity WiFi hotspots along the East Coast.

Comcast owns and operates thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.

Wi-Fi access is now available to non-Comcast subscribers at hotspots wherever the “xinfitywifi” network name appears. Users can click on the “Not a Comcast subscriber?” link at the bottom of each sign-in page and can then select “complimentary trial session” from the dropdown menu.

Users will be able to renew their complimentary sessions every two hours through next Wednesday. Comcast also provides a map of its Wi-Fi hotspot locations.

Comcast, Cox Communications, Cablevision, Verizon and other service providers have been impacted by service outages, mainly due to the loss of power during Hurricane Sandy. A statement from Comcast this morning indicated that most of the problems were on their way to being resolved.

“We will continue working with local, state and federal officials, including FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security and the FCC, as well as with the power companies to assess damage and restore service as quickly and safely as possible,” Comcast wrote in its statement. “We know our services are important to our customers and appreciate their patience and understanding as we continue working to ensure service is safely restored for all. To help residents and emergency personnel with the aftermath of the storm, Comcast is opening its Xfinity WiFi hotspots where available along the East Coast to anyone who needs them, even if they are not customers.”

Comcast subscribers can also use the company’s free text alert service to check for outages in their areas by signing up on a Comcast Web page. Customers can also get outage updates and other important information about their services on their mobile devices by going to Comcast’s main website.