Are all the rumours true? Is it impossible to add my hotmail account to my Blackberry without upgrading to the Hotmail Live (where you have to pay)?

Yes and no...

You can if you had it before they changed their policy. I forgot what year they changed their policy.

But you sign up after they changed their policy, than you can not do it and you have to pay for it.

Even if you upgrade your Hotmail it will still be polled instead of push email right?