1. You must not be looking very hard. There are tons of threads on how GPS is currently disabled on the Verizon 8830 and 8703e... As for GPS in general -- yes, it doesn't cost anything to get positioning data using the GPS satellites. Now, your GPS app on the other hand may or may not be free. It just depends on the specific app that you're looking at.
3. Blackberry.com. Find your model & click on the support tab. There are a couple more steps but it should be pretty clear.