An electrical connector includes a connector housing, a plurality of electrical contacts carried by the housing, including respective pluralities of signal contacts and ground contacts configured as crosstalk shields. Electrical characteristics exhibited by the electrical connector during operation can be tuned by modifying physical characteristics of one or more of the crosstalk shields, for instance by modifying the respective shield body of one or more of the plurality of crosstalk shields so as to alter a corresponding shield area defined by the shield body of each of the plurality of crosstalk shields.