UK company SamKnows has been commissioned to undertake the study and the firm said the information it gathers will help "push for improved broadband services", according to news website ZDNet.
The company and Commission "aim to provide Europe with reliable and accurate statistics of broadband performance across Europe," a company statement said.
Last year the Commission set out "ambitious targets for broadband" with the aim of ensuring all EU citizens have "basic broadband coverage" by 2013 and that by 2020 all EU citizens have access to at "fast broadband coverage at 30 megabits per second". In addition, its 2020 target aims for at least half of European households to be accessing broadband services at speeds of 100 megabits per second, a Commission statement at the time said.
"We are working to provide internet service providers (ISPs), regulators and, most importantly, consumers with the information they need to push for improved broadband services," Alex Salter, SamKnows chief executive, said in a statement, according to ZDNet's report.
"The people who volunteer to take part will not only get access to our technology for free, but will be champions for better broadband across Europe as they help us to develop a picture of connectivity across Europe," Salter added.
SamKnows said that volunteers will be issued with a special measuring device, known as a 'Whitebox', in order to measure the performance of their broadband connection. The company said the device, which plugs into internet users' existing modem or router, can "accurately measure" the performance of an ISP.
"The Whitebox monitors your home network traffic levels to ensure that the tests only run when you are not using the internet," a statement on the SamKnows website said.
"The Whitebox does not collect any personal information or take any data on what you’re actually doing online. We have strict policies about the data we collect – we will not collect any data without your permission and what’s more you can check what data we do collect through the reporting system. We only measure network performance," it said.
In the UK SamKnows has worked with communications regulator Ofcom to report on internet connection speeds. Based on research by the company, Ofcom earlier this year called on ISPs to be forced to advertise the typical speeds available on internet access packages and not the theoretical maximum.
Ofcom's call to advertising regulators for a clamp down on the advertisements came as the research it published showed that the average broadband speed tested was just 45% of the average advertised speed.