Weekend of freebies: 1,700+ films, wireless hotspots
Verizon offers more content, Comcast gives away hotspot access.
Freebies from Verizon and Comcast could add to the fun of the Memorial Day Weekend.
Verizon's offering a slew of free content for four days, and Comcast's Xfinity is giving away access to thousands of wireless hotspots through Independence Day.
From Friday till Tuesday, Verizon subscribers can find more than 1,700 movies and 50 entire TV series through the cable service's 900 channel.
That includes such recent theatrical films as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The Dark Knight Rises, Bridesmaids, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, The Hunger Games, Hugo, Ice Age: Continental Drift, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Moonrise Kingdom, Prometheus, and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. They're available through Cinemax, ePix, HBO and ViewNow.
Among the TV series: HBO's Game of Thrones, National Geographic's Doomsday Preppers, NBC's The Voice and Grimm, A&E's Longmire, BBC's Dr. Who, AMC's The Killing Season, and Starz's Boss, Camelot, Da Vinci's Demons and Spartacus, and selected shows from 10 other networks, including Food and Animal Planet.
To find the shows, go to Verizon's on-demand Channel 900 (where many recent TV episodes are always free to subscribers) and look for the "Free Marathon" folder.
For more info, see "Get Your TV Binge On" or "Free On Demand Marathon" at Verizon.com.
From Friday through July Fourth, Xfinity is extending free wireless access to non-customers at thousands of hotspots in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, according to Comcast.
Anyone with slow or no streaming Internet who's near a hotspot - "located both indoors and outdoors in malls, shopping districts, parks, train platforms, and more," according to Comcast - can hop on by going to www.xfinity.com/wifi or by downloading the Xfinity wifi app. The app helps locate nearby hotspots.
To join, check the wireless list for "xfinitywifi" and look for "Not an XFINITY Internet customer?" at the right. Then select "Summer Promotion" from a drop-down.
Comcast says the offer is part of its "Welcome Back" campaign for customers returning to the Shore after superstorm Sandy. To make installation faster and easier, 170 technicians were added, and Shore service centers have more staff and longer hours.