If you /ever/ plan on boxing in a given area more than once, it's best to leave things as you find them. Otherwise Ma Bell will catch on to how you've been fooling around with her cabling, and you'll most likely get caught one of the next times you hit the field (duh).
As a general rule of thumb, it's best not to disturb things at all when beiging. Open up the pedestal, clamp onto a pair, do what you gotta do, then close everything up and leave. It's too easy to forget things, and sometimes you don't realize your mistake until it's too late to fix it, or you fuck up and can't remember which wire came from what post, or you just plain-out leave without noticing something.
My personal favorite connector type would have to be the ABN (angled bed of nails), which someone above mentioned.
I've got them on my meter, but not on my buttset (beige box). One of these days I'll have to put some on.
In short, they work like regular alligator clips, but also have a 'bonus' - part of the clip has a bed of pin-like points which pierce through insulation on wires quite nicely. Add a modular breakout box, and you're equipped to beige just about anything you'll find out there.
