Aspects of a method and system for a high-speed backward-compatible Ethernet connector are provided. Which, if any, of a plurality of pins of a connector are coupled to a first portion of one or more circuits of an Ethernet PHY may be controlled via one or more switching elements in the Ethernet PHY. The switching element(s) may reside in a signal path between the first portion of the one or more circuits and a second portion of the one or more circuits. One or more configurations of the switching element(s) may couple less than all of the plurality of pins to the first circuit(s). Each signal into and out of the switching element(s) may be a digital signal. The first portion of the one or more circuit may comprise a media independent interface. The second portion of the one or more circuit may comprise a media dependent interface.