Electrical connector with plated signal contacts

An electrical connector comprising:

• a housing;
• signal contacts and ground contacts held by the housing;
• the ground contacts being configured for mating with corresponding ground conductors of a complementary mating connector, wherein the ground contacts are plated with a ground contact plating;
• and
• the signal contact being configured for mating with corresponding signal conductors of the mating connector, the signal contacts being plated with a signal contact plating;
• wherein the signal contact plating of the signal contacts has a first thickness, and the ground contact plating of the ground contacts has a second thickness, wherein the first thickness is greater than the second thickness, wherein the signal contact plating and the ground contact plating provide respective contact resistances that are configured to increase over time in response to environmental exposure, the first and second thicknesses being configured such that the contact resistance provided by the ground contact plating increases more over time than the contact resistance provided by the signal contact plating, wherein the contact resistance provided by the ground contact plating is greater than the contact resistance provided by the contact plating after the environmental exposure, wherein the electrical connector is configured to transmit signals at a rate of at least 10 Gigabits/second (Gbps).