Patent ID: 7128611

Claim:
An electrical connector having a first end and a second end opposite to the first end, the electrical connector comprising: a plurality of conductive contacts, including a plurality of ground contacts and a plurality of signal contact pairs each including a pair of the conductive contacts; a conductive connecting member electrically connected to the ground contacts; and an insulator supporting the conductive contacts, wherein at the first end of the electrical connector, the signal contact pairs and the ground contacts are arranged in a first and a second row which are parallel to each other and extend in a first direction, wherein at the second end of the electrical connector, the signal contact pairs and the ground contacts are arranged in a single row, such that each of the ground contacts in an interior of said single row is interposed between: (i) one of the signal contact pairs that is in the first row at the first end of the electrical connector, and (ii) one of the signal contact pairs that is in the second row at the first end of the electrical connector, and wherein each of the ground contacts comprises a first segment at the first end of the electrical connector, a second segment at the second end of the electrical connector, and an intermediate segment between the first and the second segments, and the conductive connecting member is formed integrally with the intermediate segments.