A plug connector with external contacts is provided. The connector has one pair of contacts for transmitting data and one pair of contacts for receiving data. All data transmitted and received using the plug connector is serialized/de-serialized to enable data transmission at a very high rate. A corresponding receptacle connector has configurable contacts that are configured based on the orientation of the plug connector with respect to the receptacle connector. The receptacle connector may be included in a host device and has associated circuitry to detect orientation of the plug connector and to configure the contacts of the receptacle connector.